The National Communications Authority (NCA) has assured Ghanaians that the current SIM card re-registration across the country, will be the last of its kind in the country.

According to the NCA, the mandatory use of the Ghana Card in the registration process provides sufficient information on SIM card users, hence there would be no need for such an exercise to be conducted in the future. 

Addressing the concerns of a caller on Joy FM's Super Morning Show, on Wednesday, the Director of Consumer and Corporate Affairs at the National Communications Authority, Mrs. Nana Defie Badu further explained that, unlike other means of identification which were used in previous registration exercises, the Ghana Card contains ample details about citizens, thus makes the exercise more comprehensive and reliable.

She also stated that, even though the NCA wanted to begin the process earlier, they were constrained by the fact that a lot of Ghanaians did not have the Ghana Card.

She however indicated that, the process had to begin despite the challenge.

“I mentioned earlier, do we wait for every Ghanaian to own a National ID card before we start the registration? At the cost of fraud, at the cost of crime, and at the cost of our own digitization process? So we have to start somewhere.

But we are pretty much sure that because we have a two-layer or two-stage SIM registration process, think of it like a two-factor authentication system.

We are very sure that this will be the last registration exercise that we are doing. Because we are using the National ID Card which has so much information on an individual and we’re sure that we are able to verify the people. So, this will be the last registration exercise”, Mrs. Defie Badu assured.  

Touching on the accuracy of the exercise, Mrs. Defie Badu conceded that, the current nationwide registration exercise is not foolproof, "Definitely, I mean with everything there’s a margin of error, and so for this we do know that the margin of error will be very very limited because of the registration process that we are using.”

The nationwide SIM card re-registration is an initiative by the Ministry of Communication and Digitization.

According to the sector minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the exercise is part of efforts by government to deal decisively with the menace of SIM related fraud, while sanitizing the communications ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament have expressed strong reservations about the use of the Ghana Card as the only means of identification in the SIM re-registration exercise.

According to them, the mandatory requirement of the Ghana Card is discriminatory and insensitive to Ghanaians, especially, those living in rural communities.

They have therefore called on the Ministry of Communication and Digitization and the National Identification Authority to revise their decision on the use of the Ghana Card.