Ghanaian hip pop artist Sylvanus Dodji Jeoffrey popularly known as captain planet has described Ghana as a lawless country.
He believes the way and manner in which Telecommunications firms in Ghana have deactivated is unacceptable due to the difficulties one should go through to acquire a Ghana card.
“Ghana is a very lawless country. You’re blocking people’s SIM card & seizing their money because their sim is not registered . Give them access to their money & take your SIM cards. #Nonsense . Birth cert problem, passport problem, Ghana card problem, voters ID problem. Why?” Captain Planet of 4X4 fame tweeted.
Telecommunications firms in Ghana have deactivated approximately 9 million unregistered SIM cards, following the government’s announcement on October 1, 2021, regarding a mandatory SIM re-registration exercise.
This directive, issued by the National Communications Authority (NCA) and Ministry of Communications, has resulted in significant consequences for subscribers who failed to comply.
In the wake of this development, many people have expressed their displeasure since they cannot be able to make, or receive calls as well as withdrawing monies from their mobile money wallets.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Telecommunications has assured that all unregistered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) that have been deactivated can still be registered.
The Chamber said data on the deactivated SIM cards would be restored immediately after the user completed the registration exercise using the Ghana Card and biometric data captured by the mobile operator.
Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, Chief Executive Officer, Chamber of Telecommunications, said at least three million unregistered SIM cards had been deactivated as of Thursday morning.
However, the deactivated numbers could receive messages from their mobile operator and could also access the code for the registration of the SIM card – *404#
Dr Ashigbey said owners of restored mobile money accounts would be required to undergo a process to have monies restored in their wallets.
“If you do not have a Ghana Card, go to the National Identification Authority for the card. Once you get the Ghana card, dial the registration code, and get registered. Once you get registered, you will get your number back,” Dr Ashigbey said.
