Listen to this articleThe National Democratic Congress (NDC) has slammed the Akufo-Addo administration for the punitive actions taken against some SIM-card users during the re-registration process.
The opposition party believes that the actions must end immediately due to the lawlessness and arbitrary nature of the sanctions.
“We are appalled that this objectionable impunity has reached an alarming point where the mobile SIM cards of innocent Ghanaians, including those who have already undergone the aforementioned reregistration, are being restricted, thereby rendering many of our citizens incommunicado, helpless, and frustrated,” the NDC said in a statement.
The NDC has targeted Communications and Digitalization Minister Ursula Owusu Ekuful, as well as the National Communications Authority, for what it claims is a poor rollout of the re-registration exercise.
The NDC categorically condemns the Minister of Communications and the NCA’s arbitrariness and recklessness. Such mishandling and blatant bungling of a simple exercise like the ongoing SIM card re-registration can only be supervised by incompetent and clueless public servants like the ones at the helm of the Ministry of Communications and the NCA,” read the release signed by the party’s General Secretary, Johnson Aside Nketia.
The NDC wants the exercise to be stopped and has called for parliamentary intervention.
“While we commend and encourage legal actions filed by citizens of the country affected by the reckless SIM Card restrictions, we call on the Parliament of Ghana, specifically the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, to summon the Minister of Communications and the NCA in accordance with its oversight responsibility over these state entities.” The lawlessness displayed by Ursula Owusu, Minister of Communications, and the NCA must be stopped immediately.”
As part of the National Communications Authority’s punitive measures, Ghanaians with unregistered SIM cards have been restricted from using their SIM cards as of this week (NCA).
Also read: Sam George collects data to file class action over sim re-registration exercise
Some stakeholders have argued that the move violates Ghanaians’ rights.
Hundreds of customers have already gathered at the headquarters of the three major telecom companies to express their concern about the government’s punitive actions against them.
Already, the People’s Project has filed a lawsuit against the NCA and the Attorney-General (A-G) over the ongoing SIM card re-registration exercise.
The group is requesting that the Supreme Court declare the registration deadline and the associated punitive measures for non-registration null and void.
The punitive measures, it claims, are unconstitutional.
The suit comes after the NCA announced that unregistered SIM cards would be blocked.
Sam George, a member of Parliament’s Communications Committee, has also begun gathering data in order to file a class action lawsuit against NCA over the sim card re-registration exercise.
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