Ursula blames SIM card, Ghana card brouhaha on NDC

The Minister of Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has blamed the NDC and the Minority in Parliament for the current issues that have emerged as regards the Ghana Card and SIM registration.

According to her, the NDC advised Ghanaians and members of their party to boycott the Ghana Card registration, resulting in the current difficulties.

The minister believes support from the NDC and the minority for the registration exercises on both fronts would have accounted for many Ghanaians acquiring their Ghana Cards, which would have translated to higher numbers in the SIM re-registration exercise.

"…The Ghana card registration exercise started as far back as 2018. Our members on the other side actively campaigned against it and urged their members and Ghanaians to boycott it.

So if they had assisted the country to undertake this exercise in the spirit of nationalism at the time, we would probably not find ourselves in this situation.

"So, if the people do not have the Ghana Card and they don't have it because they listened to the other side, we only have ourselves to blame. Now that we have created this problem, let us see how we work together to address the issue," she added.

Ursula also cited Muntaka Mubarak as one of the people who encouraged Ghanaians and his side of the house to boycott the Ghana card registration.

"Members on the floor of the house also indicated that they were not going to participate in the SIM registration, including Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak," she added.

Reacting to this, the minority chief whip said the minister's claims were false as he never said what the minister was accusing him of.

He said he personally registered his SIM in parliament, but it was blocked.

He said the minority was not against the Ghana Card registration but was against the sole use of one document for the acquisition of the Ghana Card.

"Mr. Speaker, the Minister is a senior minister, and she knows that in this house if she wants to make such a reference, you either put your official report or put your evidence.

"Mr. Speaker, I challenge the minister to provide any evidence that I, in this chamber, stood to say what she is claiming I said. If she cares to know, her statement is rather irritating to the ordinary Ghanaian.

"We were here, you facilitated for the telcos to come here and register members. They came here and all the staff and members here will attest to the fact that I went down there and registered, but my SIM is blocked. Minister, you have to be responsible in your statement. Don't just irritate people. I registered my MTN and Vodafone as we speak, my MTN has been blocked after they picked up our information right here in this house.

"...we believe and continue to believe that the limitations on people in the way they will register for the Ghana card and we said that was not fair, and we still stand by that. That is also the reason why many ordinary Ghanaians do not own Ghana Cards, she should be worried that ordinary Ghanaians do not have the Ghana card because of her bad policy of limiting the source document in which you can access the Ghana card," he added on the floor of the house on December 5.

The Communications Minister, however, indicated that the SIM cards of people who do not have Ghana Cards have not been blocked.

NYA/WA