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About 85% of sim cards have been registered in Ghana as at June since the exercise was made mandatory in the country over a year ago, according to communications minister Haruna Iddrisu. Briefing the media in Accra on Monday, the minister said the number is encouraging and urged Ghanaians to go ahead to register their sims. �It is a good reasonable achievement,� he said. �At least we have a good minimal database to tie faces to sim numbers,� he noted. Iddrisu announced that the National Communication Authority (NCA) has extended the exercise to enable the remaining 15% of unregistered mobile numbers to be on the database. He employed the NCA to be vigilant to ensure that �no sim enters the Ghanaian market unregistered� since that will defeat the purpose of the national policy. The communication minister dared those questioning the basis of the exercise while insisting that the government has the legal mandate under Section 4 of the Electronic Communications Service Act 2008 to register all sims. The law stipulates it is obligatory �for service providers to provide to the NCA customer database information for a universal directory. � He added: �We are clothed with appropriate legal strength to do that. It is important that the Ghanaian public appreciate that we are not embarking on sim registration for any other purpose, but to mitigate crime. � Sim registration became mandatory in Ghana as a result of increasing incidence of mobile phone snatching, fraud and anti-social behaviours in the usage of phone such as the sending of anonymous and vexatious text messages, insults and death threats among others.