The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak has refuted claims by the Communication minister suggesting that some minority members urged Ghanaians to boycott the Ghana card registration resulting in the current challenges some Ghanaians are facing with regards to the acquisition of their SIM cards.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful had, while making submissions on the floor of parliament suggested that the delays with registration of Ghana Cards and re-registration of SIM cards could be linked to the minority and what she said were efforts to frustrate the respective exercises.
She also cited Muntaka Mubarak s one of the people who encouraged Ghanaians and his side of the house to boycott the Ghana card registration.
But reacting to these claims, Muntaka refuted them, indicating that the minority was not against the Ghana Card registration but rather against the use of birth certificates as the means to acquire the Ghana card.
Speaking in parliament, he challenged the communication minister to provide evidence to buttress her claims.
“Mr Speaker, the Minister is a senior minister and she knows that in this house if she want to make such preference, you either put your official report or wither put your evidence.
“Mr Speaker I challenge the minister to provide any evidence that I in this chamber stood to say what she is claiming I said. If she cares to know her statement is rather irritating the ordinary Ghanaian," he said.
Muntaka added that despite the fact that he registered his MTN SIM card, he has been blocked by the telco.
“We were here, you facilitated for the telcos to come here and register members. They came here and all the staff and members here will attest to the fact that I went down there and registered, but my SIM is blocked. Minister, you have to be responsible in your statement. Don’t just irritate people. I registered my MTN and Vodafone as we speak, my MTN has been blocked after they picked up our information right here in this house.
“.. we believe and continue to believe that the limitation people in the way they will register for the Ghana card and we said that was not fair and we still stand by that. That is also the reason why many ordinary Ghanaians do not own Ghana Cards, she should be worried that ordinary Ghanaians do not have the Ghana card because of her bad policy of limiting the source document in which you can access the Ghana card,” he said on the floor of the house on December 5.
Background:
The Communication Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful blamed the NDC and the Minority in parliament for the current issues that have emerged as regards the Ghana Card and SIM registration.
She said the NDC advised Ghanaians and members of their party to boycott the Ghana Card registration resulting in the current difficulties.
The minister believes support from, the NDC and the minority for the registration exercises on both fronts would have accounted for many Ghanaians acquiring their Ghana Cards which would have translated to higher numbers in the SIM re-registration exercise.
“…The Ghana card registration exercise started as far back as 2018. Our members on the other side actively campaigned against it and urged their members and Ghanaians to boycott it.
So if they had assisted the country to undertake this exercise in the spirit of nationalism at the time, we would probably not find ourselves in this situation.
“So, if the people do not have the Ghana Card and they don’t have it because they listened to the other side, we only have ourselves to blame. Now that we have created this problem, let us see how we work together to address the issue," she added.
NYA/WA
Minority Chief Whip Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak