Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Communications Minister

Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has announced the sim re-registration exercise will commence in June 2021.

The exercise, according to her, forms part of moves to clamp down on cybercriminals hiding behind the anonymity of digital systems to commit antisocial acts.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful has explained it will be a six-month-long exercise expected to end in December 2021, adding all un-registered sims will be blocked after the deadline.

She also added plans are far advanced to make the National Identification Card (Ghana Card) the only national identity card for all identification and business purposes.

Speaking at the 5th Ghana Chief Executive Officer’s summit, she said that digitisation is the only way to ensure free trade across the continent and create an enabling system for trade financing using electronic means. “We are poised to deliver,” she said.

The Ablekuma West Member of Parliament, among other things, touted the efforts of the ministry in delivering on its mandate.

“My ministry is also working to improve access to connectivity across the country with rural telephony and digital inclusion projects which will see the construction of 2016 solar powered cell sites in unserved and underserved rural communities,” she said.

 The re-registration is expected to reduce mobile phone-related crimes such as prank calls, cyber-crime, mobile money fraud and its related issues to improve general security in Ghana.