Ghana’s Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, announced on Monday that all unregistered SIM cards will be blocked progressively from the end of October. According to the Ministry, the decision to delay account deactivations following the conclusion of the re-registration exercise on 30 September is not an extension to the deadline, but rather a ‘temporary moratorium’ to encourage customers to complete the process.
In a statement released on Monday, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said it was ‘disconcerting’ that almost ten million people had linked a SIM to their Ghana Card (stage one of the registration) but not completed the process by verifying their biometric data. ‘There is no excuse for this since these individuals have their Ghana Cards, have started the process, and had ample opportunity to fully register their SIM Cards, including through the use of the self-registration app which is the first of its kind in the world,’ the statement added.
According to data released by the Ministry, approximately 28.96 million SIM cards had been linked to Ghana Cards as of 4 October, equivalent to 67.3% of the 42.75 million SIMs issued nationally. Only 18.93 million (44.3% of total issued) had been fully registered by the same date, however.