SIM re-registration: Too much queuing under Akufo-Addo – Boamah

A Communication Minister under the erstwhile John Mahama administration, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, is questioning how the government intends to fund the re-registration of SIM cards in the country.

According to Dr Boamah, Ghanaians have been subjected to multiple queuing under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration because policy implementation has not been aligned properly with other ongoing national programmes.

His comment comes after the government, through the Communication Ministry led by sector minister Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, issued a six-month ultimatum to all mobile phone subscribers to re-register their SIM cards with valid national ID cards and other relevant documents or face deactivation by June 2020.

The exercise is expected to begin from 1 January 2020.

Reacting to this development in a Facebook post, Dr Boamah said: “Protecting the public purse means ensuring efficiency in business operations and raking in more revenue. Who is going to pay for the total cost of the SIM card registration? Citizens, telcos and the government.

“Therefore, the National ID registration process should have been an opportunity to register SIM cards and address other forms of critical Identification and tracking problems.

“This would have saved Ghanaians the ordeal of multiple queues and loss of precious time.

“Another missed opportunity!”

Dr Boamah noted that in 2020, Ghanaians will queue to register their SIM cards, queue once again to register as new voters, queue another time to check their names in the new voter register before they queue the fourth time in the December general elections.

“This is the price/punishment a people suffer when policy implementation is not aligned properly with other ongoing national programmes,” he stated, adding that: “Ghana deserves better.”