Ursula Owusu can't block anybody's SIM card by October 31 - Sam George

According to him, the minister cannot proceed to deactivate unregistered SIM cards as a result of a pending suit against the process.

The MP noted in an October 17 interview with Joy FM that a move to block SIM cards by the end of the month will serve as a basis for her to be cited for contempt of court.

Sam George mentioned that the judge has set November 10 as hearing the substantive case and injunction motion against the SIM re-registration process by some nine Ghanaians.

“The minister can keep shifting the goalpost and speaking fanciful English but the facts are simple. She cannot deactivate anybody’s SIM card at the end of October simply because she herself is a lawyer and when the NCA was claiming there was no case in court, we told them to tell the Ghanaian people the truth.

“On the 13th of this month, the NCA represented by Gary Nimako who is their lawyer and director of legal affairs, [and] Dr. Poku Adusei were in court.

“They were there to respond to our injunction case that has been filed. The judge said he hadn’t read the process and so he was adjoining to the 10th of November. However, being a lawyer and with the counsel that she has, she knows the implication of an injunction motion being served on you and she knows that any action that she takes will lead her to be cited for contempt,” the lawmaker said.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in a statement dated October 17 indicated that persons who have completed stage one (linking Ghana card to SIM) of the re-registration process have been given till the end of this month to complete the process of risk losing voice and data services.

She added that those who have not begun the process at all will have their unregistered SIM cards ‘progressively’ blocked as well.

“All SIM Cards that have been linked to Ghana Cards (i.e. completed Stage 1 registration), but have not completed their Stage 2 registration will be blocked from the end of October.

“This is not an extension of the deadline but a temporary moratorium to encourage these individuals to complete the process. If they have any peculiar challenges, they should contact the NCA.

“These good people have the Ghana card, have started the process and will be encouraged to complete it with this gentle reminder. All other unregistered SIMs will also be blocked progressively,” part of the statement read.

This will be the fourth time that the sector minister has failed to enforce a deadline given.

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