We must end the cycle of SIM registration

Just a few years ago, millions of Ghanaians went through a long, frustrating exercise: we had to re-register our SIM cards by linking them to our Ghana Cards. 

Now, barely three years later, we are being told that the exercise was not good enough.

The new government says the previous registration lacked credibility.

And once again, there is talk of another fresh, nationwide SIM re-registration.

For the ordinary Ghanaian, this is bewildering. Do we really have to go through all that again? Did the millions of cedis spent on the last exercise simply go to waste?

And if we do this all over again, what is the guarantee that we will not be asked to do it again in the next few years?

These are not just questions for policy experts.

They affect every Ghanaian who owns a mobile phon. Our SIM cards help us to work, send money, talk to family and access critical services.

When the system is insecure, criminals exploit it.

But when the solution is engaging in endless re-registration, it is the ordinary citizen who bears the burden.

The truth is, the goal of a secure SIM registration system is one we all share.

SIM box fraud, where criminals route international calls to look like local ones, continues to deny the nation of the expected revenue.

Just over a year ago, this newspaper published an investigation into the country’s booming illegal SIM card trade, exposing how vendors and fraudsters had exploited systemic loopholes to acquire registered SIM cards for criminal ends.

That investigation laid bare an uncomfortable truth: despite the costly nationwide SIM re-registration exercise in 2022 and 2023, the vulnerabilities it was meant to cure remained.

This shows that the problem is not that we lack registration data, it is that the system to verify and enforce that data has not worked properly.

President Mahama has criticised the previous re-registration exercise, saying it was “largely ineffective.”

He points to poor coordination between the Ministry of Communications and the National Identification Authority. He has a point.

The National Communications Authority reportedly found that fingerprint checks showed zero matches with the national database, a deeply worrying failure.

But the answer to a poorly executed exercise is not to repeat the same heavy, costly process all over again.

The immediate past Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu‑Ekuful, defended the previous registration, insisting that every active SIM was linked to a Ghana Card.

And an audit reportedly showed that over 80 per cent of facial biometrics matched the national identity data.

That suggests that while the process had serious flaws.

Valuable data was collected.
So, where do we go from here?

The Daily Graphic believes the government should resist the temptation to simply restart. Instead, it should verify and clean up the system we already have. 

This means: Conducting a targeted verification exercise, not a blanket re-registration; Using the biometric data already collected to identify and block fraudulently registered SIM cards; Making sure the National Identification Authority and the telecom companies work together seamlessly without the institutional friction that undermined the previous effort.

Being honest with Ghanaians about what went wrong, why it won’t happen again and how we will protect our personal data are crucial.

A fresh, nationwide re-registration would cost the state, and the public, dearly.

It would eat up time, money and patience. It would also send the troubling message that we are willing to start over every time a new administration decides the old work was not good enough.

That is not the way to build a stable digital identity system.

Ghanaians deserve a system that works. We deserve to know that when we register our SIM cards, we will not be asked to do it again in a few years.

The Minister of Communications, Samuel Nartey George, has spoken of a more efficient process; perhaps digital registration by short code, eliminating queues.

If that is the goal, why not apply it to a verification exercise rather than a full re-registration?

We are not opposed to fixing the system. We are opposed to a cycle that treats each registration as a one-off political project rather than a permanent national asset.

Let us verify what we have. Let us hold the institutions accountable for making the system work.

And let us spare the Ghanaian public the fatigue and expense of yet another full scale re-registration.