Mr. Wisdom Koku Deku, the Executive Secretary of NIA, has responded swiftly to some questions posed to the Minister of Communication, Technology and Innovation, Sam George by IMANI Boss over the announced SIM card re-registration next year.
Mr. Franklin Cudjoe in a Facebook post asked:
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“A tech friend wants me to ask my brother Honourable Sam George the following questions:
1. Is this necessary?
2. What happened to the old system?
3. Are they getting a new software to handle the process?
4. Where is the old data? Is the data lacking integrity?
5. Is a nationwide registration the right approach?
6. Are they taking biometric data too?
7. What ills did we fail to cure in the previous system that we need to ensure that cure in the new system?”
Tackling the questions, Mr. Deku whose institution – NIA is an intergrat part of the exercise said the SIM card re-registration “Is very necessary so that we know the true owners of SIMs and device they are using”
According to the NIA boss, “The old system did not uniquely identify the true Owner of the person using the Ghana Card as it only verified the PIN and not biometrics which can establish the uniqueness of everyone.”
Responding to the status of the old data collected in 2022, this is what he had to say:
The old data is there but majority lacks integrity. Reason why the Minister said some have been successful to be verified in the NIA system so the unsuccessful ones will be the ones that will go to the Telcos to register (only on appointment to avoid queues)
Read his full response:
Franklin Cudjoe let me try and answer all the questions for you.
1. Is very necessary so that we know the true owners of SIMs and device they are using
2. The old system did not uniquely identify the true Owner of the person using the Ghana Card as it only verified the PIN and not biometrics which can establish the uniqueness of everyone.
3. Yes a new system will handle this
4. The old data is there but majority lacks integrity. Reason why the Minister said some have been successful to be verified in the NIA system so the unsuccessful ones will be the ones that will go to the Telcos to register (only on appointment to avoid queues)
5. That is the only way out. If it must be done. It must be done well.
6. No biometrics will be taken. You will only be verified biometrically against the NIA system to establish authenticity.
7. The old system didn’t biometrically verified from the NIA system. They only took a picture of your fingerprints and stored it.
Hope I have answered your questions
