The Founding President of Policy Think Tank, IMANI Ghana, Mr Franklin Cudjoe, has stated that the move by government to control fake Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards through re-registration is not the only panacea to the proliferation of fake SIMs in the country.
According to him, the Ministry’s approach to curb the proliferation of fake SIM cards even though good but not the only way to fight the menace.
In a Facebook post sighted by Republic Press, Mr. Cudjoe said the telecommunication companies should be able to expunge the fake SIM cards from the system, rather than subjecting all Ghanaians into the trouble of authenticating their SIMs all again.
“If there are fake SIM cards in the system, how is that the doing of those millions of us who registered earlier legitimately? Shouldn’t the Telcos be asked to identify and block those fake cards?,” his post read.
Mr. Cudjoe is marvelled how the National Identification card should be the sole identity requirement for the reregistration will eradicate the fake cards differently from the others.
“Exactly how will the national ID card being the sole identity requirement for a re-registration of all SIM cards prevent the infiltration of fake SIM card? Nor can any ID actually do so?,” he quizzed.
He additionally questioned “if we all yield and re-register, we will not have fake IDs, ever? And if there are fakes in the near future, we all get asked to re-register again? What is this?”
The Minister of Communication, Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, said the re-registration of mobile SIM cards started on Friday October 1, 2021.
The exercise, which will last for six months, will end on March 31, 2022.
Any SIM which is not registered at the end of this exercise will be blocked, according to the Minister.
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, had earlier indicated the reason for the exercise is to rid the country’s cyberspace of fraud, monitor and track down persons who use their phones for criminal activities.
He disclosed at the 5th Ghana CEO Summit in Accra, noting that any individual who fails to take part in the exercise risks losing his or her SIM card.
Meanwhile, Minority Leader, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu has criticised the move, arguing that undertaking a SIM re-registration exercise will not solve the issue of Mobile Money fraud as expected by Dr. Bawumia.
He said the Vice President is “ill-informed, inept and highly naive,” with that assumption.
The solution to the challenges of fraud within the electronic money ecosystem goes beyond SIM registration,” he said.
“We hold the view that the mandatory re-registration of SIMS provides no substantial benefit in the fight against electronic money fraud, and will face practical challenges such as inbound travellers who require a SIM card without a national ID,” he added.
