The Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, has explained that government’s decision to undertake a fresh nationwide SIM re-registration exercise is aimed at correcting irregularities discovered in previous registration processes.
His comments follow a recent government announcement indicating plans to begin another SIM re-registration exercise across the country.
Speaking in an interview with the media, Mr. Fianko noted that the upcoming exercise will be the third official SIM registration process in Ghana, after earlier attempts exposed significant challenges in data verification.
According to him, the first SIM registration exercise in 2011 encountered major setbacks because identification documents submitted by subscribers were not properly verified.
“The first one was done in 2011. The challenge with it was that there was no verification at all of the IDs. What we did was manual verification of some limited cases along the way,” he explained.
Mr. Fianko said the second registration exercise was introduced to ensure that all subscribers linked their SIM cards to the Ghana Card issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA).
However, he indicated that the process could not be fully completed because the biometric validation phase was not implemented.
“There was supposed to be verification of the ID card; we did one part of it, but the second part didn’t happen. The policymaker, the NIA, couldn’t get alignment to do the second phase, which was the validation of the biometrics,” he stated.
The NCA Director-General further revealed that the previous exercise exposed several irregularities, including cases where fake photographs, false identities, and counterfeit identification cards were used to register SIM cards.
“There are cases including fake photos and the same name but a different person. We also saw fake IDs used to register,” he added.
Mr. Fianko emphasized that the upcoming exercise is intended to create a more credible and verifiable database of mobile subscribers, which will help strengthen identity verification and enhance national security.
“What we want to do is to have a single source of truth. We want to ensure the ID details are correct and that the person who presented the ID is indeed the person,” he explained.
He also assured the public that the new SIM re-registration exercise will be conducted at no cost to subscribers.
Story: Nyamebeye Kofi Ansah Sasraku