The Minority has announced that it will protest against any move that will result in Ghanaians residing abroad losing their SIM cards.

According to the Deputy Ranking Member on the Communication Committee, Sam George Nartey, the nature of the ongoing exercise has the propensity to alienate citizens who are currently outside the country.

“If you are a Ghanaian outside the country, you have no opportunity to register your SIM cards and this Ghanaian can be discriminated against and so as a Minority, if the government and the Minister do not care about the Ghanaians, we the Minority do care about them and we’ll fight to protect their right to keep their sim card,” Sam George said.

On July 31, Minister of Communication, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, promised that on August 2, a self-service app would be accessible to enable users to register their sim cards on their own.

But the app is yet to hit online stores almost a month after the announcement.

According to the National Communications Authority (NCA), its officials are undertaking quality control checks before making the service public.

“We have the app and we are testing it to make sure that it meets all the security requirements, it is user-friendly, easy to use and all those things. The app will be released very shortly. But what I’m saying is that the app is not the only way to do the sim registration, it is an additional way to do the sim registration. Subscribers can still go to the NLA agents, and still do the registration."

However, the Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament's Communications Committee, told JoyNews in an interview that the delays in the app's release are proof that the sim registration policy was not carefully considered.

The Ningo-Prampram legislator indicated that "we are waiting to see eventually when the app will be launched and then demand that the number of these that should delete, citizens get that opportunity. This is not just because of us but because of the millions of Ghanaians in the diaspora who actively use their sim cards."