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SIM card re-registration: NDC wants Parliament to call Ursula Owusu, NCA to order over 'lawless' exercise

By Vincent Ashitey
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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has taken on the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful asking that she and the National Communications Authority (NCA) are called to order.

In a statement issued by the General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, on Saturday, September 10, the NDC said Ursula Owusu has become “obstinate” in “this simple exercise of linking SIM Cards to Ghana Cards of subscribers”.

READ ALSO: Why Apple is ditching the physical SIM card

The opposition Party further descended on Ursula Owusu Ekuful, and the NCA for their 'recklessness' in the handling of a such simple registration exercise.

"The NDC condemns in no uncertain terms this arbitrariness and recklessness on the part of the Minister of Communications and the NCA. Such mishandling and crass bungling of a simple exercise such as the ongoing SIM card re-registration can only be supervised by incompetent and clueless public servants like we have at the helm of the Ministry of Communications and the NCA," a statement read.

The NDC wants the exercise discontinued demanding parliamentary intervention.

“While we commend and encourage legal actions filed by citizens of the country who have been affected by the reckless SIM Card restrictions, we call on the Parliament of Ghana, particularly the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications to call the Minister of Communications and the NCA to order in line with its oversight responsibility over these state entities. The lawlessness being displayed by the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu and the NCA must be halted now.”

READ ALSO: Video: Taxi driver goes naked, curses 'MTN' for blocking SIM card

Since Monday, some punitive measures have been rolled out by the NCA to force people to have their SIM cards linked to the Ghana card before the September 30 deadline given by the Communications Minister elapses. 

This the NDC said is not backed by any law of the land, including the SIM Registration Regulations, 2011 (L.I 2006) and the National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (L.I 2111).