Deputy Ranking Member on the Communications Committee of Parliament, Sam Nartey George, said there are several factors that have militated against many in their quest to register their SIM cards.

Government has set July 31 to be the deadline for all persons to re-register their SIM cards with their Ghana cards with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization, indicating that people who fail to comply with the directive will have their SIM cards deactivated.

But addressing the media, Sam George said the President must ensure that, the registration goes beyond the 31st July deadline.

“We hope that within the next 24 to 48 hours, reason will apply. We want to use this means to call on the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to instruct his Minister for Communications, to rescind his decision on the deadline as it poses potential national security implication for millions of Ghanaians who have not been able to register due to no fault of theirs.”

The exercise which began on 1st October 2021, was originally scheduled to end on 31st March 2022 but was extended by the sector Ministry to 31st July 2022, due to the fact that over 7.5 million citizens and residents at the time, were yet to obtain their Ghana Card, to enable them register their SIM cards.

The Communications Ministry subsequently said 12 million Ghanaians have so far linked their Ghana cards to their SIM cards.

Sam George however argued that failure to extend the deadline will have dire security implications.

“We urge the President and the National Security Minister not to treat this issue with kids gloves and take cognizance of the threat of terror and ensure that the millions of Ghanaians who use their SIMs on a daily basis are not disenfranchised.”

The Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana also wants government to consider an extension of the deadline for the SIM card re-registration exercise.

It said the mobile money business will be negatively affected should government go-ahead to implement the July 31 deadline.

In a statement, the group noted that the deadline could be extended to January 2023.