Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, has called out the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu, for introducing a SIM Registration App for the registration of diplomats and a Self-Service SIM Registration App to facilitate registration of SIM cards for Ghanaians resident abroad.
Ras Mubarak describes this move as an insult to Ghanaians and tax payers who have had to join long queues and struggled to get their SIM cards re-registered.
“I don’t know if the minister considers Ghanaians kids or salves. She said there is going to be a mobile app to aid those in the diaspora and diplomats re-register their SIM Cards with ease without having to join long queues and all that. This is an insult to the ordinary Ghanaian living in Ghana. It is an insult to Nurses, Teachers, Security Personnel, the Chiefs and people of this country,” he stated.
In an interview with Happy98.9FM’s Sefah-Danquah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ political show, Ras Mubarak noted that the minister thinks the ordinary Ghanaian can be taken for granted but not those living in the diaspora, hence her decision to regard them as superior human beings. “I don’t know if Ursula Owusu feels Ghanaians living abroad won’t tolerate nonsense, so they can be serviced through a re-registration mobile application and the rest of us here in the country can struggle in long queues.”
According to him, the excuse that diplomats and Ghanaians in the diaspora will be inconvenienced should they queue for the re-registration exercise is disrespect to ordinary Ghanaian.
The Ghanaian people have expressed frustrations over the long queues and delays at the SIM card re-registration centres.
Most of the centres have long queues with the young and the old struggling to be attended to amidst misunderstandings over who came first and who is receiving protocol treatment, all in a bid to meet the deadline of March 4, 2022.
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation has however extended the deadline for the re-registration of SIM cards across the country to 31st July, 2022.
The new directive was reached after the ministry took note of the challenges which have characterized the process since it began in October last year.
Portions of a statement released to this effect read;
“As at 17th March, 14,091,542 SIM Cards have been linked to the Ghana Card, 10,348,532 Bio-Captures conducted and 99,445 New SIMS registered. Due to a number of factors including the fact that over 7.5 million citizens and residents are yet to obtain Ghana Cards to enable them register their SIM cards, it is clear that the deadline for completion of the registration of the remaining active SIM cards cannot be met”.
“More time will also be required to update the SIM Registration App for the registration of diplomats, while a Self-Service SIM Registration App is also being developed to facilitate registration of SIM cards for Ghanaians resident abroad. This will be operational by mid-April.
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