Register all SIM card subscribers by Xmas *National Security's ultimatum to mobile phone service providers

Front Page: Daily Graphic, November 20, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
MOBILE phone service providers in the country have been given up to Christmas to comply with a National Communications Authority (NCA) directive which requires them to initiate the process of registering all new SIM card subscribers.
Making its intervention in Accra yesterday, the National Security Council Secretariat said the delay by the mobile phone operators to register their SIM card holders was facilitating the rate at which criminals used mobile phones to threaten citizens and commit other crimes, after which the SIM cards were discarded.
Although the mobile phone operators are asking for more time due to resource constraints, the Security Council Secretariat and the NCA believe the operators are delaying unduly.
The Head of Public Information at the secretariat, Mrs Jackie Annan, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the delay in the registration of the SIM cards was disturbing.
She referred to a May 5, 2009 Daily Graphic publication in which the operators were directed to speed up the process of registering the SIM cards to help identify customers.
The National Security Co-ordinator, Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, also expressed concern over the fact that criminals often intensified their activities bordering on kidnapping, Sakawa and advanced fee fraud when Christmas was approaching.
According to him, with the success the police had chalked up in combating violent crime, the security agencies needed to deal with technological crime, noting that it was only when SIM cards were registered that the owners or users could be appropriately identified to facilitate investigations.
He said it was unacceptable in these times for anyone to be able to buy a sim card off the street which could not be traced to a specific person, whereas in other countries that was not the situation.
He said the registration of sim cards would enable the security agencies to identify those who used the technology to commit crime.
Lt Col Gbevlo-Lartey said security was a need-driven effort which warranted a continuing analysis of the security situation, as well as the predisposition of existing institutions to handle any emerging security threats.
“Our analysis of these emerging developments will dictate the required responses and that is why we expect the operators to initiate the process by Christmas,” he added.
He observed that kidnapping had become a real threat all over the West African sub-region and said Ghana was positioned to address the challenges, especially with the discovery of oil and its attendant businesses.
The security co-ordinator said the mobile phone operators were being asked to start the registration of SIM cards with the issuance of new ones, while they initiated programmes to register existing customers over a period of time.
He said a public education exercise would be mounted for members of the public, particularly those already using SIM cards, to appreciate the importance of the exercise.
The Head of the Legal Directorate of the NCA, Mrs Abena Asafu Adjei, said although there was no specific regulation compelling mobile phone operators to register SIM cards, the general mandate of the NCA, which required it to protect the public interest, was enough grounds to issue directives to the mobile phone operators.
She, however, said discussions had been held with the Attorney-General’s Department for the processes of passing specific legislation regarding the registration of SIM cards, stressing that it was done all over the world.