Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, minister of communications, has chastised people who took out short loans from their service providers and chose to forgo repaying the debts by not registering their SIM cards.
Authorities would soon learn about the incident, according to Ursula Owusu, which she called “vile corruption.”
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, addressing journalists at a press briefing on July 31, said, “I have also been informed that some people who have obtained quick loans from their service providers have decided not to register those SIMs to avoid repaying the loans. That is evil corruption and you will be found out.”
A delay in the SIM registration process until September 30, 2022, according to the Communications Minister, has been announced.
She explained that the need for the delay was due to the teething problems facing registrants who have not yet received or obtained their national identification cards.
The minister announced that registrants could now speed up the registration procedure with a self-service application to solve the lengthy lines associated with the activity.
The mobile software might be accessible through either the Android or iOS platforms and is anticipated to go live in the upcoming week.
However, there is a GHC 5 fee for SIM card registration through the app.
Background
The SIM card registration process started on October 31, 2021, and it was planned to expire on March 31, 2022. However, as of March 17, more than 14 million SIM cards had been linked to the Ghana Card, more than 10 million biometric scans had been performed, and 99,445 additional SIMs had been registered.
It was obvious that the deadline for finishing the registration of the remaining active SIM cards could not be fulfilled due to a variety of circumstances, including the fact that more than 7.5 million citizens and residents had not yet obtained Ghana Cards to enable them to register their SIM cards.
As a result, the ministry extended the deadline to July 31, 2022.