Ghana’s telecommunication companies MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, AirtelTigo and Glo Ghana have halted the ongoing blockage of sim cards belonging to Ghanaians who have yet to register their numbers with a Ghana Card.
The decision to cease the ongoing blockade was reportedly reached due to heavy public backlash against the move, according to a Citinewsroom report.
Telcos started implementing punitive measures against unregistered sim cards from Monday, September 5th 2022 on the back of a directive from the industry regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Ghanaians who had their SIM cards unregistered were barred from making calls and accessing other services on certain days of the week.
The exercise immediately ran into problems as multiple Ghanaians who had registered had their numbers barred.
Others who were yet to register bitterly complained over the National Identification Authority (NIA)’s inability to provide them with their Ghana cards on time.
After intense public backlash, the exercise has been suspended.
The u-turn also comes after political activist and leader of The People’s Project, Kwame Asare Obeng aka Kwame A Plus, dragged the government to court over the sim re-registration exercise.
The suit sought for the Supreme court to make a pronouncement on the directives of the Minister and Ministry of Communication.
The Convener of the Peoples Project and also a political activist, is seeking a “declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Articles 2(23) and 296 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the Directive by the Minister for Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, on Sunday, July 31, 2022, that the First Defendant will ensure that all SIM cards that are not re-registered by 30 September 2022, will be blocked while the National Identification Authority (NIA) has not been able to issue the Ghana Cards which is the only card to be used for the said re-registration of all Ghanaians is arbitrary, capricious, amounts to an abuse of discretion and same is unconstitutional, null, void and of no legal effect.
“A declaration on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 2, 23 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the defendants are estopped from blocking the SIM cards of Ghanaians who have not been able to re-register their SIM cards until such a time where the NIA is able to issue the Ghana cards to all Ghanaians.”
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com
