A fresh nationwide SIM registration exercise is on the horizon, but according to the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Samuel Nartey George, this one will be fundamentally different.
It is not a re-registration, he insisted, but a new and proper “registration” process anchored in “law, technology, and efficiency.”
Speaking to the media, Samuel George made it clear that the previous SIM card registration effort, undertaken under former President Akufo-Addo’s administration, was fundamentally flawed and lacked “legal backing,” technical rigor, and verification protocols.
“There was absolutely no verification of your data that was taken. You went with your Ghana card, everybody was asked to come there with a Ghana card, but you go there with your Ghana card not because they want to look at your handsome or beautiful face on the Ghana card”
Samuel Nartey George, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation
Instead, he explained, what was missing was the technical “cross-referencing” that should have matched the biometric details on the Ghana card with the database held by the National Identification Authority.
“So yes, it was a waste and that’s why I said it was an act of pure wickedness and insensitivity,” he stressed.
Not a Re-registration
Samuel George strongly rejected the idea that the upcoming initiative should be described as a re-registration. For him, the term is inaccurate.
“You can only re-register something that has already been registered. Nothing’s been registered”
Samuel Nartey George, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation
This new process, he says, will finally do what the previous administration failed to do – register SIMs legally and correctly.
“There’s going to be a proper registration. It’s going to be backed by law,” he said. He added that unlike the former administration he would not proceed without parliamentary oversight.
“I will go to Parliament to get an L.I. that would enable me to do what I’m going to do.”
Legal and Technical Foundations
Having recounted how his predecessor, Ursula Owusu, lacked the legislative basis to proceed with the last SIM re-registration exercise, he contrasted this with the current legal framework.
“The only L.I. we have today is the L.I. in February 2010 that Haruna Iddrisu did when he tried to do the first registration. At that time, when Haruna tried to do the first registration, you did not have a single source of truth like you have today with the NIA database.
“So when Haruna did the first SIM registration, people went with passports, people went with driver’s licenses, people went with all kinds of cards, and there was no way to verify all of those cards”
Samuel Nartey George, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation
Today, however, the NIA database provides what George called a “single source of truth,” and would be aptly used to facilitate the new registration process.
No Queues
One of the key promises he offered was that the new registration would not involve queues or long waits.
“I don’t expect to see any Ghanaian queue and they have my word for it, nobody’s gonna queue,” George declared.
Instead, the entire process will be technology-driven and seamless. Once the system picks up a person’s Ghana card data from the NIA, it will match it against their SIM registration details.
If your name and biometrics correspond, you will receive a notification confirming verification and that will be it, he assured.
“If there is a disparity anywhere, it sends you a prompt and allows you to go online in the comfort of your home to seek redress”
Samuel Nartey George, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation
He illustrated the process with a sample case.
“So Roland’s number is 0244555666 because when Roland registered for his NIA card, he was asked to submit the numbers he had.
“Now what they’re gonna do is they’re gonna pick the biometrics that you supposedly submitted, if it’s still there, and run it through the database to see if it matches”
Samuel Nartey George, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation
George positioned this new process as a stark contrast between the current government under President John Dramani Mahama and the previous NPP administration.
“The completion of this program will make it clear, as clear as the difference between day and night; the difference between the Mahama administration and the Akufo-Addo government”
Samuel Nartey George, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation
He assured Ghanaians that this initiative would be the beginning of a new era in digital governance, one that is lawful, efficient, and citizen-focused.
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