There were long queues at some Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) offices in Accra where people had gathered to register for the Ghana Card yesterday.
That followed decision by the Communications Ministry for mobile phone subscribers to re-register their SIM cards, with the Ghana Card as the only recognised identification card for the exercise.
Situation
As of 5:30 a.m., many people had queued up at the GRA offices in their effort to register for the card.
The centres visited included GRA offices at the Kaneshie First Light, Osu, Ringway Central, Achimota, Madina Zongo Junction, as well as the premises of the new office complex of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), where the registration processes were going on smoothly.
The SIM registration exercise began on October 1, this year and so far there have not been any reported hitches in the process.
It involves dialing a number to provide some personal information, including the number of a person’s Ghana Card, after which one is asked to go to the telco service provider with the Ghana Card for his or her bio data to be captured.
Vodafone
However, some people who visited the Kwame Nkrumah Circle office of Vodafone to complete the process were disappointed, as the mobile network operator was yet to put in place the necessary infrastructure to capture their biometric data.
The customers had successfully completed the first stage of the process on their phones and were issued with unique codes for the second stage, which required them to visit their service provider for their data to be captured.
They were, however, asked to return next week, by which time the necessary infrastructure would have been installed to facilitate a smooth exercise.
MTN
The situation was, however, different at the Ring Road office of MTN, where a desk had been mounted purposely for the registration exercise, with an official seen taking the biometric data of customers who were required to provide their unique code, Ghana Card and digital address (optional) for the registration.
The company subsequently took the pictures and fingerprints of customers, before completing the entire process, which lasted about 10 minutes.
AirtelTigo
At AirtelTigo, customers were disappointed because the company was yet to begin the exercise.
They were asked to return next week for the registration.
Source: graphiconline.com
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SIM Registration Exercise: One Step Forward – Two Steps Back The decision to undertake a National SIM Registration Exercise is a laudable one. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, its implementation is expected to be shambolic, although it doesn’t necessarily have to be so. Note that the 2020 Voters Registration, National ID Registration and the 2020 National Census were preceded by public education campaigns which resulted in generally successful outcomes for those exercises. Public education on this important national exercise has been rather limited. Use of threats for non-compliance by the end of March 2022 is unhelpful. For some unexplained reason, the National SIM Registration Exercise is being carried out in a bureaucratic and rather lackadaisical manner without consideration of implications to national security. The requirement that SIM card holders should visit network registration centers to complete the registration exercise, after providing their details via *404# is vexatious and unnecessary. If we are to be faithful to the policy that Ghana is going digital, what prevents us from completing the registration via the *404# portal or online? Why should subscribers provide fingerprint proof in addition to National Identification Card numbers? The NIA has the required biometric details of subscribers i.e. fingerprints. Service providers can validate subscribers’ details by contacting the NIA. Sensitive personal details should be protected – do not make it easy for our identities to be stolen! Scammers and their ilk use these same network service providers to commit their crimes, why aid them? THERE IS NO NEED TO BROADCAST OUR FINGERPRINTS TO, OR THROUGH PRIVATE COMMERCIAL ENTITIES like mobile phone service providers? If they have so far not protected us from scam operators and unwelcome intruders, why aid and abet them. Seriously, someone must know that these days, customers use their fingerprints, yes FINGERPRINTS!!! to secure their mobile phones, computers etc. The NIA and state security agencies like the police and immigration may require our biometric data because the state is obliged to protect its citizens. Private commercial entities like mobile service providers are under no obligation (moral or otherwise) to prevent third parties including criminal elements from accessing our personal data either through complicity or negligence, Make no mistake: no-one is safe from identity ***barred word*** operators, blackmailers and hackers. Hapless victims include private citizens, utility services, security agencies, financial service providers, top politicians, (yes parliamentarians are not exempt, neither are sensitive state data sources) etc. Better still, why not use the opportunity to inject some capital into the economy? How? The answer is simple: create employment however temporary for the teaming number of unemployed in the country. Look, during the recently completed National Census, some Ghanaians were TRAINED AND EQUIPED to go from door to door for the enumeration exercise. Rather than the hassle of compelling individuals to disrupt their lives to proceed to SIM registration centers (remember that COVID-19 has not been kind to Ghanaians), why not constitute Mobile SIM registration teams comprised of ALL SERVICE PROVIDERS and NIA personnel to undertake the registration? Apparently, the National Identification Authority (NIA) has so far registered about 15.7 million Ghanaians. There are more persons to be registered. So this exercise could be undertaken jointly with NIA for more Ghanaians to gain access to National ID cards. Yes, teams comprising NIA and service providers should undertake joint registrations – like the proverbial ‘killing two birds with one stone’. THIS IS POSSIBLE. During the last major floods in Mozambique mobile networks enabled humanitarian agencies to communicate with the world from remote locations which did not have network access through the use of PORTABLE DEVICES. No one can convince me that Ghanaian expertise is not up to this task. PLEASE NO LAME EXCUSES!!! Modalities for carrying out this exercise can be worked out. What is required is sustained and massive public education for the registration to succeed. Of course, the cost should be borne by service providers as part of their corporate responsibility and commitment to serve the people of Ghana and not the other way round. This will not make them bankrupt – this could also be an alternative to the so-called annual ‘health walks’ which are invariably followed by eating and drinking binges etc. etc.!!! GOD SAVE OUR HOMELAND GHANA!