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Sam Nartey George, the ranking member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, has spoken out against the GHS5 cost that would be applied to the usage of the yet-to-be-introduced self-application for SIM card re-registration.
He asserts that Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalization, is not authorized to charge some people for the self-application for the country’s SIM cards to be reregistered.
He claimed that the sector minister appeared to disregard the Legislative Instrument (L.I.) that governs the registration of SIM cards in the nation.
He emphasized that the Minister had circumvented the Parliamentary Fees and Charges Act.
Speaking in an interview with Ghanatodayonline.com editor Louis Gyamerah on phone interview on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, the Ranking Member, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ningo Prampram Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, objected to the Minister’s decision to launch an application that will allow customers of the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) the ease of registering their SIM cards in the comfort of their homes at a fee.
He said that, in accordance with the legislation, Parliament had not approved the cost paid for using the application.
By charging Ghanaians to register their SIM cards with an APP, he claimed the Minister is sustaining unlawful activity.
The Minority in Parliament is also requesting that the SIM card re-registration be extended through the end of 2022 and that in addition to the Ghana Card, the Voter’s ID also be accepted as identification during the procedure.
Sam George reaffirmed the Minority’s concerns on the method of identification for re-registering SIM cards.
“We believe that it should be continued till the year’s conclusion.
We still don’t allow people to get the Ghana Card to register their SIM card before the September deadline, according to Sam George.
“We have been requesting that SIM Cards be registered using the other national ID card, as it was in 2021.”
“The Minister has to relook at the whole exercise, extend it to the end of the year and allow the voter ID card which is used to elect Members of Parliament and used to elect the President for people to use to register their SIM cards,” the MP explained.
He claimed that the Minister, who had previously forbade Ghanaians with passports from using them to register their SIM cards, made a U-turn on Sunday during her press conference and announced that Ghanaians residing abroad can now use their passport to register their SIM cards.
People looking to register their SIM cards can now do so by using a self-service registration application, which will be made accessible on both Android and IOS platforms this week, according to a statement released by the minister earlier on Sunday, July 31, 2022.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
