Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the minister of communication and digitalization, has lambasted Ghanaians for their response to deadline extensions for SIM card re-registration.
In an interview with Accra-based Peace FM on August 1, the minister lamented Ghanaians’ tendency to rush to registration centers at the last minute and then leave the location as soon as a deadline extension was announced.
Despite many deadline extensions, the Ablekuma West MP claimed that some Ghanaians chose not to reregister their SIM cards on purpose.
“Before the 21st March that we announced the extension, the was queue everywhere you go at the network operators places. NIA opened offices that were registering people for Ghana Card. When we announced the extension, everybody went back to sleep. Till when will we continue with this? Until last week, the was no queue anywhere. We are all witnesses to it. How long must that continue?
“Some have made up their minds that if given 10 years to do the reregistration, they will wait until the last minute. We have done this one as a conditional extension. We will review it in August. Today (August 1), there is no queue at the centres. Everybody has gone to sleep. We will wait till September ending and come and say ‘Ursula, extending it again’ meaning it is deliberate,” she said.
The present conditional extension of the deadline will be reassessed in August, and anyone who hasn’t registered by then will pay more to use an unregistered SIM, according to Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.