Communication Minister to appear before Parliament today over deactivated SIM cards

The Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, is scheduled to appear before Parliament today, June 8, 2023, to provide details on the SIM card re-registration exercise in the country.

Following the May 31 deadline for the exercise, over 8 million subscribers, including the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, had their SIM cards deactivated. The deactivation was a result of the delay in the release of Ghana Cards by the National Identification Authority, leading to the inability of many individuals to register their SIM cards.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George expressed concern over the impact of the deactivated SIM cards on people’s livelihoods and highlighted the difficulties faced by Ghanaian citizens in obtaining the Ghana Card since December 2022.

“People’s livelihoods have been affected, and people’s mobile monies have been stuck on their cards. It is important that this House takes into consideration that the National Identification Authority has failed to issue any Ghanaian citizen a Ghana Card in any district office in December 2022, so it is not the fault of any Ghanaian that they have not been able to register their SIM card.”

As a result, the Minister was summoned to appear before the legislators today as reported by our parliamentary Correspondent,Yesmeen Abubakar Tetteh .

The SIM card re-registration exercise began on October 1, 2021, and was initially set to end on March 31, 2022. However, due to challenges in acquiring the Ghana Card, the deadline for registration was extended multiple times until May 31, 2023, which was communicated as the final deadline.

As a result of the deactivation, around 7.4 million mobile money accounts, holding a total of GH¢200 million, have been rendered inactive. However, the Chamber of Telecommunications has assured the public that the funds in blocked accounts will be securely held in a special account.