Six days to the deadline for the registration of SIM cards, some Ghanaians have been left frustrated.
A myriad of reasons have been hampering them from registering their SIM Cards.
A combination of frustrated clients looking to secure their Ghana Cards, customers disappointed by their service providers and others who are just not interested are a few of the reasons why some Ghanaians have not been able to register their SIM cards.
JoyNews interacted with some people who have not been able to link their SIM card details to their Ghana cards for several months since the exercise began.
“There is a huge queue over there and some are paying. I am working for someone and I cannot leave my job and go and stand there and register because of the card, I will miss my job and right now it is difficult getting a job that is why I have not registered,” one person said.
“I have not registered it yet. I want to get rid of it. Their services [are poor] I want to get rid of it. I want the deadline to come so they take it off themselves that is my main reason,” another added.
“It is quite stressful and time-consuming. You definitely need to go to the offices to do the biometric registration and then looking at the stressful nature day in and day out when you go there…that is why I have not registered yet. I am not bothered. Looking at the number of people who have not registered their SIM cards, I am not sure it [deadline] will hold.
“My Ghana card is spoilt and so right now I will go to the police station to go and report then I will collect the report form to the head office.
“I have registered MTN but I have not registered Vodafone. I have tried my best that I will register it but now I am very busy that is why I have not registered,” a young man noted.
According to the Communications Ministry, 12 million subscribers have so far linked their SIM card details to their Ghana cards.
The deadline for the SIM card registration has been reviewed already with little possibility for another postponement.
Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has announced that there will not be any extension of the deadline for the nationwide SIM card registration after July 31, 2022.
“The deadline for the exercise was extended by four months and it will end on the 31st of July, 2022. It will not be extended again – and I take this opportunity to urge everyone who has not yet registered their SIM Card to do so,” she said on the floor of Parliament on June 27.
The exercise originally began on October 1, 2021 and ended on March 31, 2022. The deadline was however extended by the Communications Ministry to July 31, 2022, to allow for persons who were not able to register to do so.