New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmaker Kennedy Nyarko Osei has criticised plans for a fresh nationwide SIM card registration exercise, arguing the move would impose unnecessary costs on consumers and telecom operators despite existing data indicating that only a fraction of records are problematic.
Nyarko Osei, Member of Parliament for Akyem Swedru, said in a Facebook post that government should instead focus on resolving discrepancies affecting about 20% of registered SIM cards rather than pursuing what he described as a “needless” blanket re-registration.
“The government cannot use these 20% to justify a complete new registration which is going to cost consumers and the telcos about GHC240 million,” he said.
Targeted approach
Ghana has undertaken multiple SIM registration exercises in recent years, led by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in collaboration with the National Identification Authority (NIA), as part of efforts to improve security and curb fraud.
Nyarko Osei proposed a more targeted approach, urging authorities to flag SIM cards with identity inconsistencies and require only affected users to re-register at their own cost.
“All that the government, through the NCA and the NIA, has to do is to flag these SIM cards with questionable identities and allow those affected to re-register with their true identities,” he said.
Conflicting registrations
He further suggested deploying biometric verification tools, including fingerprint matching, to identify duplicate or conflicting registrations within the existing database.
“The current system must be able to run fingerprint matches and flag every SIM card that has more than one registration,” he added, proposing that such lines be blocked until users undergo in-person facial verification with their network providers.
Nyarko Osei said even a minimal re-registration fee would not justify a mass exercise if a more efficient, targeted solution exists.
Assurance
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, has assured Ghanaians that privacy protections will be central to the upcoming SIM card registration exercise.
Speaking on TV3 Ghana on Sunday, Mr. Fianko emphasised that privacy concerns are being taken seriously in the design of the new system.Ghanaian news subscription
“I am a mobile user myself, so I wouldn’t want to create a solution that will later become a problem for myself. I will not be in this position forever,” he said.
He noted that the NCA is working closely with the Data Protection Commission to ensure that the process meets required data protection standards.
“Because of privacy concerns, we are working with the Data Protection Agency. The LI itself is also building in provisions for cybersecurity, protection, and others. So, it is going to be an ethical process,” he added.
Mr. Fianko stressed that the primary objective of the exercise is proper user identification, not surveillance.
“I am not aware of any attempt to use this for anything that will hurt the privacy of the people or do anything that we haven’t communicated. The primary objective of the exercise is proper identification of users,” he said.
Source: asaaseradio.com
