Mobile Network Subscribers are protesting the introduction of the GH5 fee that members of the public must pay when registering their SIM cards using the self-service SIM registration App.
The group criticized the Communications and Digitalization Minister, who announced the news on Sunday, in a press release. They claim that the charge is unlawful.
“The Minister has been an MP for some time and should know what ought to be done to impose fees or charges. She has not sought parliamentary approval and has no authority to impose fees or charges without parliamentary approval,” parts of the statement signed by Ras Mubarak read.
The group went on to say that it is disappointing that the Ministry wants to charge Ghanaians when so many people are having difficulty due to the current economic climate.
“Serious governments all over the world are giving their citizen’s relief packages to ease the burden of the recession. We call on her to abandon this insensitive announcement to illegally impose a surcharge of GHC5 on Ghanaians. We the Concerned Mobile Network Subscribers maintain that the dehumanizing nature of the rollout was avoidable.”
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A self-service SIM reregistration App will be released on August 2 according to Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communication and Digitalization, who stated this on Sunday, July 31.
She claims that this App will make it possible for the general public to re-register their SIM cards from the comfort of their homes, eliminating the need to wait in line at any network operator’s office.
At a press conference on Sunday, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful announced that a GH5 surcharge will be applied to each registration made through the app.
She also disclosed that the reregistration deadline had been extended once more in the interim.
She stated that September 30th is the last day. This she says should give people adequate time to register all their SIMs.
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“That will give us one full year of SIM registration. It will be reviewed at the end of this month and any SIM that has not been fully registered by the end of August will be barred from receiving certain services including voice and data services.”
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful added that “it will also be more expensive to use unregistered SIMs. The full range of punitive measures will be announced at another press briefing in September.”
