Over 8 million subscribers, including the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, had their SIM cards deactivated after the May 31 deadline for the exercise.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George, lamented that the deactivated SIM cards, which have been taken off as a result of the delay in the release of Ghana Cards by the National Identification Authority, have affected livelihoods.

“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.”

The SIM card registration campaign started on October 1, 2021, and was due to end on March 31, 2022.

The National Identification Card, also known as the Ghana Card, is the only document that can be used to undertake the registration exercise.

However, due to some difficulties in the acquisition of the Ghana Card, the NCA extended the deadline for registration multiple times until May 31, 2023, which was communicated as the final deadline.

About 7.4 million mobile money accounts, holding an amount of GH¢200 million, have not been registered and therefore deactivated.

Indeed, some SIM card owners are alarmed that their Ghana Cards have been used on their blind side to register numbers that do not belong to them.

The revelations have come about as the mobile network operators, the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation and the National Communications Authority (NCA), offered a check route through the short code *402*1# as a security assurance in order not to nullify the essence of the re-registration exercise.

In one instance, a victim, Adwoa Vic, said she could not believe it when she went through the checking process with the short code.

“My card is registered with five unknown numbers aside from mine. I use only one sim card, an MTN number,” she said.

She asked whether subscribers were safe in the country, given the revelations about the virtual theft of people’s Ghana Card details for indiscriminate SIM card registration purposes.

The short code allows persons to cross-check the list of SIM cards registered with their Ghana Card.

The system allows subscribers to request a SIM card to be delinked if they were unaware of the SIM card registered in their name.

“If you identify any unknown mobile number(s) linked to your Ghana Card, request for a delinking of the number(s) from your service provider as soon as possible,” the communication to that effect said. 

Observation

Observing some people verify the number of sim cards linked to their Ghana Card, the Daily Graphic realised that while those who completed their sim re-registration at the offices of the moble network operators (MNOs) had no problem with their cards, many of those whose cards were linked to numbers not known to them had completed the two-phase process with some authorised agents.

In the peak of the re-registration exercise, some interventions were rolled out to make the process of registration more accessible and convenient as the offices of the MNOs recorded large crowds of people who wanted to complete the process.

Experiences

In separate interviews with the Daily Graphic, some SIM card owners said they were amazed how their Ghana Cards were used to register other multiple numbers without their consent or knowledge.

A victim, Kwame Kankam, said he was only alerted by his network service provider that he had exceeded the maximum 10 SIM cards registrations permitted by the system.

The message from MTN, dated April 15, 2023, read: “Dear Valued Customer, you have exceeded the maximum of 10 SIMs that can be registered by an individual. Kindly visit the nearest service centre before April 17, 2023, for further assistance as the additional SIMs will be disconnected. Kindly treat as urgent”.

Mr Kankam said he was told at the MTN office that not only were some unknown MTN numbers registered with his Ghana Card, but that several AirteltiGo numbers had been registered in his name as well.

He explained that while it did not take long to delink the eight additional numbers from his Ghana Card at the AirteltiGo office, he had to go back and forth to do same at the MTN office.

He said he suspected his Ghana Card was used by an agent he had transacted business with to register some MTN and AirteltiGo lines he knew nothing about.

“For now they have delinked all the numbers; it is now left with the MTN line,” he said.

Paul Nyonyo, also a victim, said three other additional Vodafone lines he did not own were registered in his name with his Ghana Card.

“I had two Vodafone lines, but when I checked, they had registered three other lines with my card. I went to their office in Cape Coast where I met other people in a long queue with a similar problem. After waiting for my turn, the other three numbers were delinked from my Ghana Card number,” he said.

He said he did not understand how the problem happened since he bought and registered his sim card at a Vodafone office.

Doho Haruna said he detected through the checking process that his Ghana Card had been linked to three numbers.

“I do not own the third number, which is a Vodafone number. I have only one Vodafone line, which I have used for more than a decade,” he said.

Crucial intervention

Another subscriber, De-Graft Aboagye Williamson, however, described the cross-checking initiative as a good intervention, saying “at least, we have made some progress so far”.

He expressed the hope that other challenges would be addressed going forward.

Also, Yaw Adjei, whose card was linked to three numbers he did not know, described the intervention as “crucial as it would save people like him from trouble.”

“I see this Ghana Card identity theft as similar to what happens to ATM card fraud. This intervention is very crucial because some of us will be there and suddenly picked up for a crime we have not committed, but which has our ID linked to that crime.”

Other people who also spoke to the Daily Graphic said that the NCA coming up with such an intervention was indicative of the problem. They expressed the hope that the efforts to clean up the system would also not encounter any subtle impediment from the mobile network operators (MNOs) that may want to hold on for their numbers to look good.

NCA 

At a recent news conference, the NCA said SIM registration was a key national assignment fundamental to the country’s digital transformation agenda. 

According to the Director-General of the NCA, Joe Anokye, the exercise was critical to build trust and confidence in the use of telecommunications, financial and other essential services, adding that “a reliable SIM register will support security and law enforcement activities to safeguard our common peace and promote socio-economic development”.

Efforts to get the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications to also indicate what interventions they were putting in place to ensure that the issue was resolved in order not to pose any threat to those who had identified the illegal linkage of their Ghana cards to unknown numbers were unsuccessful.

SIM registration

The SIM card registration exercise in the country began on October 1, 2021.

After an initial six-month deadline, the exercise has been extended a number of times to enable all subscribers to register.

Individuals can register up to 10 SIMs while businesses can register more.    

The NCA, at a news conference recently, gave customers of telecommunication networks who were yet to register their SIM cards up to May 31, 2023, to do so or be deactivated.

This is likely to affect some 11,122,295 (30.4 per cent) persons who are unregistered and yet to complete the SIM card registration process to link their phone numbers to the Ghana Card.

The NCA further said it would deactivate and delink SIM cards that had not completed the SIM registration process with the Ghana Card.

As of Wednesday, April 26, 2023, there were 36,571,256 active SIM cards of the various telecommunication networks in the country.

About 6,178,452 SIM cards have since been deactivated and delinked as a result of the failure to complete the SIM registration process.

A total of 25,448,962 (69.6 per cent) persons have completed the two-stage registration process.

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According to the figures, the number of subscribers re-registering their SIM cards fell to 5,861 on August 19, 2022, from about 235,000 recorded on July 31, 2022, when the extension was announced.

This represented a 98% decline.

The data also showed that by August 1, 2022, the number of registration fell to 62,715, compared with the 235,460 recorded on July 28, 2022. 

The trend continued until it dropped further to 5,861 by August 19th, 2022.

Some telecommunication firms told Joy Business that as low as 80 people were registered nationwide on daily basis, a situation that they described as not encouraging.

Meanwhile, Joy Business, has gathered that the telcos are not going to push for any form of extension due to the extra cost to be incurred in keeping the exercise running.

Government through the sector minister has also warned that there will not be any extension as it launches the online portal for the registration for android users.

Communications Minister announces SIM card re-registration September 30, 2022

Following public agitations, the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu Ekuful announced an extension of the deadline to 30th September, 2022.

It appears the decision to extend the deadline had slowdown the exercise.

Some people had indicated that they were yet to receive their Ghana Card, the primary identification system used for the SIM card registration.

After the deadline, subscribers who have not yet registered their SIM cards will be blocked from making calls, browsing and receive calls.

According to the Executive Secretary, Prof. Kenneth Attafuah, the best NIA can do is to expand its services but it is not possible for all outstanding cards to be made available.

“We will continue to expand opportunities for all who desire to get the card by the deadline but we cannot guarantee it will all be granted.

“We will serve the people as the responsible institution we are and continue to collaborate with the NCA,” he said in an interview on Accra-based TV3.

This follows the extension of deadline for the SIM card re-registration exercise from July 31 to September 30, 2022.

With the Ghana card as the primary document for the nationwide exercise, majority of Ghanaians are still yet to acquire them.

The situation Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful on Sunday indicated compelled her to “reluctantly” extend the deadline to enable people register their SIM cards.

To Prof Attafuah, the September 30 expectation is not fair as the outfit was not established to operate by deadlines.

“NIA was not set up with a specific deadline but in perpetuity. What that means is that we are to deliver our mandate pretty much the same as the hospital or a maternity ward that people go there as and when they need to,” he added.

Meanwhile, the outfit has revealed there are about 800,000 printed cards yet to be collected.

They have appealed that the deadline should be extended to January 2023.

Government through the Communications Ministry has already set July 31 as the deadline for all persons to re-register their SIM cards with their Ghana cards.

Unregistered SIM cards, according to the Ministry, will be blocked after the deadline though many Ghanaians are still yet to acquire the Ghana card.

In a statement signed by General Secretary, Evan Tuffour, the Association noted mobile money business will be negatively affected should government decide to implement the July 31 deadline.

“As a business people in the industry, it will be very detrimental to our business and the industry, in general, should government pursue the 31st July 2022.

“We appeal that with realism and having considered inconveniences and challenges, the government should extend the deadline to January 2023,” portions of the statement read.

This comes after calls by the Minority in Parliament for the government to at least extend the deadline to the end of the year.

The Ranking Member on the Communications Committee, Sam George, addressing the press on Thursday stated the deadline can pose a potential national security threat.

Read the full statement below:

According to him, he does not see the need for a deadline.

Speaking in an interview on Newsfile, Saturday, Mr Ametorgoh said the government should rather find a possible way to register those who are unable to beat the deadline.

“Why don’t they find a smarter way of getting the other people who can’t access a registration centre because of geographical restrictions, age etc? he asked.

The Technology Analyst further explained that the registration process should not be forced on people but rather should be a process where people should be encouraged to do so when they are available.

“So it doesn’t make sense to me that we have been worrying ourselves doing extensions. Let’s get people to do this as and when they are available to do it. Telecommunication service is a tool of convenience which you don’t sell with the inconvenience.

“So I believe that the extension must be done, it should go beyond the January 2023 people are talking about,” he said.

In regards to this, Mr Ametorgoh said the government is not losing anything when it comes to the registration process so there is no need for a deadline.

“You are using the experience centres of most of the telecommunication companies, MTN’s and the rest, they have their experience centres. I’m not sure government is paying them for using their workers to do SIM registration,” he wondered.

“There has been a deadline but whenever you attend the registration centres daily you notice people have crowded there to complete the process,” he said on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem Show.

“It’s not because they are unwilling to register but there have been series of complaints from people saying there is no data on their Ghana card even after completing the exercise. So are you telling me they cannot use their SIM cards?” he quizzed.

The Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has noted that there won’t be any further extension of the SIM card re-registration exercise scheduled to end on 31 July 2022.

However, Mr Danquah cautioned the government against ‘these forceful acts’.

“I have a contract with MTN, Tigo and Vodafone and at the time I registered with an approved valid card which is my voters ID and the passport.

“So you mean to tell me SIM cards of Ghanaians would be blocked though they haven’t had the opportunity to finish the registration process. If they dare to try, we will meet them,” he fumed.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, she indicated that the approach serves as one of the many strategies employed to help facilitate and ease crowding at the various registration centres.

She reiterated that the deadline for the registration will not be extended this time around hence the public should be advised.

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Madam Ursula advised all who have not worked on their Ghana card to do so in order to be able to register their SIM cards to avoid them being blocked.

The Minister who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West indicated other strategies in place for a smooth registration exercise as extension of registration exercise to event centres, religious institutions, and various communities.

She added that there will be an increase in registration agents and devices by the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)

The SIM card registration exercise is organised by the Communication and Digitalisation ministry, National Communications Authority (NCA) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

The exercise is expected to end on July 31, 2022, to get all subscribers get their SIM cards registered.

This is according to the NIA’s Corporate Affairs Officer, Henry Myers Aboagye, who explained that has accounted for the challenges the process has been faced with.

Customers of telecommunication companies have been directed to synchronise their details with the National Identification database.

The process includes visiting outlets of the respective operators which have resulted in winding queues.

Though NIA says it has issued cards to about 15 million Ghanaians, a lot of citizens are still struggling to either register for a new card, misplaced cards or collection.

This has generated conversation about the waste of productive hours and raised questions about the flexibility of the exercise.

But reacting to the development, on Beyi W’ano segment on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Mr Aboagye said the NIA replaces about 200 cards daily just at the head office.

Mr Aboagye stated the telcos could have relied solely on the NIA database.

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“What the telcos are doing now is that they are matching their data with ours (NIA) and so they have to validate the Ghana cards.

“But the NIA’s L. I 2111 talks about sim re-registration and it mandates NIA to share our data with the telcos after going through certain protocols. So once they queue in your name, the details will pop up and that is the system the banks and GRA are using,” he explained.

However, he noted the law does not mandate the telcos to take data from citizens since that has been enshrined in the law as a duty of NIA and they have done that.

This forms part of measures to deal with the congestion that has characterised the exercise since it started.

The National Communications Authority (NCA) announced the development in a statement following a meeting with stakeholders.

Long queues are being recorded at the offices of various MNOs in the country as Ghanaians rush to meet the March 31, 2022 deadline for the exercise.

Many have raised concerns about the process, a situation NCA earlier indicated it has taken notice of and has been working assiduously to improve the subscriber experience.

The statement among other things noted that, all the stakeholders also agreed that there should be a continuous update of the SIM registration software to make it more efficient.

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The network operators are also expected to increase staff strength to cater for stage 2 (biometric capture), open up additional registration points and increase the number of devices.

Read the full statement below:

The Board of Directors of the National Communications Authority (NCA) on Tuesday January 11, 20222 met with the Chief Executive Officers of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and the developers of the SIM Card Registration Application.

This followed recent reports of subscriber challenges encountered with the ongoing SIM Card Registration exercise which began on October 1, 2021.

The meeting was to review and outline solutions for the issues identified with the exercise.

The meeting reviewed all issues concerning the SIM Registration process with a specific focus on improving subscriber experience.

At the end of the meeting, all MNOs, App Designers and the NCA agreed on the following;

1. That all stakeholders, i.e. the NCA, all MNOs and App designers are committed to collaborating to ensure the success of the exercise.
2. That all MNOs will work to improve customer experience at various registration centres to reduce and eliminate long queues at Stage 2 of registration.
3. That all MNOs will take urgent steps to increase number of agents/staff undertaking the biometric capture at the stage 2 of the exercise, open up additional registration points and increase the number of devices for the biometric capture.
4. That the MNOs will publish the locations for the SIM Registration for subscribers to easily locate centres close to them.
5. That there will be continuous update of the SIM card registration application to ensure it is robust and efficient at all times.
6. That there will be deeper collaboration to ensure that all associated challenges with the SIM Card Registration exercise are addressed promptly.

It is the expectation of all stakeholders that all concerns regarding the SIM Registration will be resolved for a successful exercise.

The exercise has been characterised by long queues and other challenges at the various registration centres.

Speaking in an interview with Emefa Apawu on NewsNight on Thursday, Mr Ashigbey indicated that his outfit has noted the difficulties which have plagued the nationwide exercise.

“Even today around 3 o’clock, there was a meeting between the NCA and the operators; all looking at the challenges that are coming up and figuring out ways in which we’ll be able to better improve the system that we currently have,” Mr Ashigbey intimated.

According to him, based on an assessment of the events at the various centres and the feedback from the grounds, measures will be put in place to overcome the hurdles.

“At the end of the day, the assessment is based on what we’re seeing. So once you see these long queues at the various centres, some of which have even resulted in some of our members having to close some of their centres; it has resulted in some COVID-19 cases in some centres and all of that, that definitely is worrying.

“The good thing about it is that it has been a system that we’ve constantly been monitoring and doing a lot of improvement,” he said.

Earlier today, JoyNews paid a visit to some SIM card re-registration centres to ascertain the progress of the exercise. After hours of monitoring, it was observed that the exercise had been marred by long queues, leaving many participants frustrated. Some also expressed their anger at the slow pace of the exercise.

Others, according to the JoyNews team were willing to abandon the entire process due to its cumbersome and stressful nature. For them, a more convenient system should have been put in place to eliminate the hurdles surrounding the current manual approach.

Reacting to these concerns, Mr Ashigbey mentioned that as technicians and stakeholders, they are considering smoother means to ease the growing inconveniences.

“The self-service that we’re doing at the first stage, we should be able to design a system again that enables some people to do some self-service, even with the biometric capture.

Because, if you have a system in which I can put my finger on a particular device and then be able to link that device to the NIA database, such that if there’s a match, then that feedback comes, that will be something that would help.

“It will then eliminate you and I who can do it ourselves and then we can reduce the numbers. So I’m hoping that as we continue to engage, we should be able to design a system that enables that to happen.

“If that happens, it will definitely cut the number of people and improve the user experience that currently characterises what it is that we’re dealing with at this stage”, Mr Ashigbey stated.

As part of measures to curb cyber security and create a functional national database for citizens, the National Communication Authority, in collaboration with the National Identification Authority (NIA) is embarking on a nationwide SIM reregistration for all mobile phone users.

The exercise, which began on October 1, 2021, has entered a second stage in January 2022, which requires owners of mobile phones to move to designated locations to register their SIM cards with their service providers.

According to the NCA, persons who fail to satisfy the stated requirements will have their SIM cards blocked at the end of the nationwide exercise in March 2022.