Samuel Nartey George, the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation has stated his ministry cannot account for data collected during the sim re-registration done under the previous government.
According to Sam George, the former communication minister Ursula Owusu Ekuful must be asked where the SIM registration data is.
Sam George asserted that there is an audit going to determine what happened but nothing was given to the National Communication Authority (NCA).
Speaking in an interview on TV3 New Day, Sam George stated, “We should be asking the former minister. There’s still an audit going to determine what happened to that. There was nothing given to the NCA in the handing over notes.
Multiple apps were created for collecting people’s data, we need to find out where that data is sitting and all of that. There was nothing in the handing over notes about that (the data). The NCA did not hold the data, the NCA is supposed to be the regulator,” he stated.
Sam George further added, “The state will act on it. This is absolutely worrying because this is the ministry that oversees the Data Protection Commission.
Data Protection should have been a principal consideration and these were things that I raised as Deputy Ranking member on the Parliamentary Oversight Committee at the time but nobody listened but we will fix all these problems,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sam George has justified the need for Ghana to have a new SIM registration exercise.
According to Sam George, the move aims to fight fraud by creating a centralized equipment identity register that will allow the banning of mobile devices alongside SIM cards used in fraudulent activities.
Speaking on the floor of parliament Sam George detailed, “One of the key things we need to do, which I stated emphatically during my vetting is a proper sim re-registration and we don’t need to do just a sim re-registration we need to do a central equipment identity register, because Mr Speaker today if you complete a sim re-registration and you even block the sim they can simply move to another phone and use that phone”.
But if you have a central equipment identity register and it is locked with the sim card, Mr Speaker when we block the sim, and most members know when the fraud is done, they are asked to pay money to a certain series of numbers”, he stated.
Sam George further added, “When you block the SIM card and you block the device, it makes it difficult for that person to perpetuate fraud again, they need to buy a new phone and do a new SIM registration.
And once we block the sim we also have the Ghanacard that was linked to that registration, that Ghanacard is banned from all the networks from doing any new registration of the sim card”, he boldly stated.
