Labelling the entire process as a ‘mess’, Sam George said Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful must take responsibility for the challenges encountered by the government and Ghanaians.
Reacting to the extension of the deadline for the SIM card re-registration by Ursula Owusu-Ekuful on Sunday, July 31, 2022, the Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications accused the Communications Ministry of setting unattainable deadlines for the registration.
“Ursula Owusu blames everyone but herself for the mess we face today with registration.
“The deadlines she has given are impractical and poised to fail even before commencement. We are uncertain the robustness of the paid-for app she says would launch 2 days after her deadline has lapsed.
“This is a tragic comedy of poor policy decisions, shambolic implementation plans and a clueless approach to technology roll out.
“Her shambolic public policy implementation would be studied in lecture rooms across the world as how not to implement a public policy," he shared on social media.
Touching on the directive by the Communications Minister for Ghanaians in the diaspora to use their passport as the document for registration, Sam George wondered why the government that rejected the use of the passports by Ghanaian residents would accept same for residents outside Ghanaians.
“Again, we see incoherence in her directive to Ghanaians in the diaspora to use their Passports. The same passports she is refusing for us to use within the jurisdiction,” he said.
At a press briefing on Sunday, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful announced an extension of the re-registration to September 30, 2022.
She disclosed that from the comfort of their homes, Ghanaians can now register their sims via an app which would be launched in the next few days. The process will however cost the Ghanaian GHC5.00.
"Upon consultation, Government has decided to grant a final conditional extension. The programme will be extended to September 30 to end on the anniversary of its commencement, that will give us one full year of SIM re-registration," the minister stated.
"It will be reviewed at the end of this month [July] and any SIM that has not been fully registered by the end of August will be barred from certain services including voice and data. It will also be more expensive to use unregistered SIMs," she added.
KPE/BB
Samuel Nartey George, the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram