SIM Cars re-registration: New deadline almost impossible and unrealistic – Apaak

Builsa South Member of Parliament Dr Clement Apaak, has said that the new deadline for the SIM re-registration exercise is not possible to achieve.

Due to the inability of many to get their card, the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful extended the July 31 deadline by two more months. It was the second extension after the first on Thursday, March 31.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful, while addressing the press on Sunday, said she had to extend the deadline again “reluctantly”.

“Upon consultation with the industry and in view of the challenges enumerated above, I have very reluctantly decided to grant a final conditional extension.”

She said this latest decision will take the exercise, which started on Friday, October 1, to exactly a year since it started.

“The programme will be extended to 30th September to end on the anniversary of its commencement. That will give us one full year of SIM registration.”

Asked whether the timelines are possible to meet while speaking on the New Day show on TV3 with Berla Mundi, Tuesday August 2, Dr Clement Apaak said “I don’t think they are, for obvious reasons.

“First of all, as we know, technology is supposed to make life easier…technology is supposed to enhance and make things easier for us but when you have a situation where as part of the efforts to bring technology to the door step of of every citizen, the citizens begin to feel that they are being penalized. Clearly, that cannot be something that they will appreciate.

“The timelines are not realistic because if you were to listen what the National Identification Authority, Prof Ken Attafuah is saying, given the volume of work that they still have to do vis-à-vis the reluctant extension, it is almost impossible for all Ghanaians to register before the end of the extended deadline.”

Source: 3news.com|Ghana