Executive Director of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Professor Ken Agyeman Attafuah seems to have burst Hon. Ursula Owusu's bubble about getting all Ghanaians to register their SIM cards with Ghana Card by the end of September.
The Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, issued a directive to Ghanaians who haven't yet engaged in the ongoing SIM re-registration exercise to do so or have their SIM cards deactivated.
She has extended the deadline for the registration exercise to the end of September this year hoping that all Ghanaians would have their SIM cards registered. This is the third time of extending the deadline for the exercise.
Deadline Extension
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, 31st July and later in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on "Kokrokoo", Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said; “Upon consultation with the industry and in view of the challenges enumerated above, I have very reluctantly decided to grant a conditional extension. The programme will be extended to 30th September to end on the anniversary of its commencement.”
“That will give us one full year of SIM registration. It will be reviewed at the end of this month and any SIM that has not been fully registered by the end of August will be barred from receiving certain services including voice and data services,” she added.
It Is Not Possible
But days after her speech, the NIA - the body mandated to establish and manage a national data centre, by setting up a system to collect, process, store, retrieve and disseminate personal data on Ghanaian citizens and legally and permanently resident foreign nationals, and to issue national identity cards - says it will not be possible for all Ghanaians to receive their Ghana Cards to enable them register their SIM cards before or by the deadline.
Prof Attafuah who heads the NIA, stated on PeaceFM that there are some bottlenecks that need to be taken into serious consideration.
He was emphatic that not all the applicants will have their cards before the deadline because the NIA's capacity is limited; pointing out that this is because the Authority has inadequate number of personnel to register all Ghanaians and distribute their cards to them by the end of September.
"We have opened 276 operational district offices. Every constituency has an office...On the 3rd of November, 2021, we opened 16 Regional offices and 276 district offices operational simultaneously which is a different case but they are all working. Initially, we had some resistance from some political quarters but the truth of the matter is that, at the end of the day, all these offices are functional and serving the good people of this country.
"Every Regional office has only 5 people. Every district office has only 4 people. During the mass registration, 16 people were in every registration center and in every district, there will be about 200 registration centers. Today, there is only one office in every district or municipality and it has either a maximum of five or a maximum of four", he said.
Unrealistic Expectation
Prof. Ken Attafuah also added that the law that establishes the NIA didn't take into effect the SIM re-registration exercise, explaining the law required the NIA to "exist in perpetuity and for Ghanaians to go there and register at their leisure and pleasure".
The NIA, he expounded, "is like a hospital or a maternity ward; you go there when you need to after the mass registration but today, it's become impromptu for everyone and the strength does not exist".
Prof. Attafuah stressed; "It is an unrealistic expectation that we will be able to give all of them their cards...It is not possible to do that. What is possible, however, is to put in greater efforts and make sure as many as can get it can but to guarantee that every single one is not possible".
"The number of SIM cards linked to the Ghana Cards are less than 15 million and yet we have issued more than 15.5 million, so that's also another factor to consider. Also, by the NCA's own statistics, it has not been possible since October 1st when they began to link all the available Ghana Cards to the SIM cards", he further said.
He made these submissions during an interview on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme Friday morning.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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Prof. Ken Atteffuah is not telling the whole story. People who registered for their Ghana cards in some municipalities since April this year have not had their cards printed and distributed to them. I have personally been to my municipal registration office on four different occasions and was told the NIA has run short of card embedded with micro-chips used in printing. Thus its been four months since I registered but cannot lay hands on a Ghana card. I have a valid passport, drivers license, voters ID card, SSNIT and TIN registration but all these cannot validate my identity for my Sim card registration except the Ghana card? If my line is blocked after September, GH government should expect a class action law suit. Except because the judiciary is been packed with family and friends they think every eligality will pass as right.
PLEASE DO NOT COMPARE UK ***barred word*** TO THIS EXPENSIVE CARD FOUND ONLY IN ESTONIA, DENMARK. NO WONDER TERRORIST ARE ABLE TO COME TO UK AND HARM THE PEOPLE IF THEY HAVE THIS GHANA CARD SIM-REREGISTRATION THESE INFILTERATORS WILL NOT HAPPEN. WHO CARE IF THAT IS DONE IN UK THAT IS TERRORIST ARE ABLE TO INFRITERATE IN UK SOCIENTY AND CAUSES A LOT OF HARM. STOP LISTERNING TO NDC IGNORAN T, ARROGAN T, USELES SSSSS, UNRUL LY SIC K PEOPLE, A DYING PARTY. NDC WANT TO KEEP GHANA UNDER DEVELOPED. NO MORE EXTENSION NO MORE EXTENSION. SIM REGISTRATION BECAUSE OF TERRORIST THAT IS WHY GHANAIANS SHOULDN'T LISTERN TO NDC IGNORANC E, ARROGAN T UNRU LLY MENTALITY FOR REGISTERING THEIR SIM PLUS BIO DATA BECAUSE IS THE PHONES TERRORIST USE TO BOOMB THEIR VICTIMS SO THAT INFOMATION IS VITAL IF TERRORISTS CELLS ARE BEING FORMED THE WAY OF DOING SUCH SEARCH IS BY SIM, TO PHONES WAYS. WE SHOULDN'T ALLOW PASSPORT, DRIVERS LICENSE, VOTERS ID TO BE USE TO REGISTER SIM IN GHANA EXCEPT GHANA CARD AS GHANAIANS OVERSEAS VISIT GHANA THEY WILL DO THEIR GHANA CARD AS MY BROTHERS AND FRIENDS WHO CAME RECENTLY HAVE DONE. SO USLER STICK TO THE DEALINE FOR JULY 31, 2022 BUT ONCE YOUR PHONE IS SHUTDOWN REACTIVATE IT ONCE YO RECEIVE YOUR CARD JUST AS ANYONE REACTIVATING NEW PHONE EXCEPT THAT THE OLD PHONES HAVE THEIR INFORMMATION AND SIM ON THE TELECOMS DATABASE BUT HAS NO BIODATA INFOATION ATTACHED. GOOD AGREED IS TOO MUCH OF GHANAIANS ***barred word***, GHANAIANS GO GET YOUR CARD EVERYONE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. WHEN IS NIA COMING TO OVERSEAS TO REGISTER DIASPORA PLEASE BECAUSE WE NEED IT EVEN THOUGH WE ARE BOTH CITIZENS FOR BOTH GHANA AND OVERSEAS COUNTRY WE NEED THIS EXPENSIVE CARD AND BE ABLE TO RENEW WHEN IT EXPIRE JUST LIKE PASSPORT PLEASE, PLEASE.
Gyimie saaa, ***barred word*** nkoah, can’t you people reason together as government appointees or the professor think if Ghanaians change the current administration he would still be Incharge of that department. Which developed country can you buy SIM card without identification? Is it wickedness or just devilish?
Ursula never said everyone would have his or her card by end September. She said her deadline was based on what the sector minister gave her. So if Dr. Attafuah is saying something else, it is something he needs to sort out with his minister. Moreover it would be dishonesty for anyone to think all would receive cards by the end of the year. If you avail yourself, you would be captured.
Ken Attafuah is always undermining other people. This SIM card registration exercise is what saved this whole Ghana card project. At the very least Ken should be grateful to madam Ursula. If the government does not establish a deadline of some sort, Ghanaians will never register - Plain and simple. In most advance countries, you cannot even get a driver's license or work without a valid identification. The Ghana card is much easier to obtain than a passport. Why don't we all support this? Organize another mass national exercise if needed and get everybody into the database. The electoral commission was able to compile a full register within 3 months... 3 months. Akuffo Addo's weakness is the Akim mafia in his govt. Come again Attafuah...