The National Communications Authority (NCA) has been sued by nine people in the High Court for its orders on sim card re-registration.
Mobile phone subscribers were given an ultimatum by the NCA to re-register their phone numbers or face having their numbers blocked by telecommunication companies.
The Authority set a deadline of 30 September 2022 for persons to re-register their sim cards with a valid Ghana Card issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA).
The NIA, on the other hand, has stated that it will be extremely impossible to issue Ghana Cards to all individuals by the September 30, 2022, deadline.
The nine people filed a court review application against the Mobile Phone Sim Card Re-registration Directives, describing them as punitive.
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Joined in the suit is the Attorney General.
The applicants are asking the court for an interlocutory injunction to prevent their agent, workmen, contractors’ subcontractors, and associates deriving authority through the NCA from imposing any punitive measure/ sanctions, such as deactivating, restricting, churning, or otherwise limiting their use of mobile phone sims and network services until the case is resolved.
According to the petitioners, the NCA exceeded its authority when it issued punitive instructions ordering them to re-register their mobile phone sim cards with the Ghana Card as the only identity document on or before September 30.
In a writ filed on September 26, this year, the nine applicants, who are MTN, Airteltigo, and Vodafone users, stated that they applied for Ghana cards between 2020 and 2022 but have yet to get them.
The petitioners claimed that since the passage of Act 750 in 2008, the NIA has been unable to register all Ghanaians and other people entitled to registration as required by law at any point in time.
According to the applicants, the registration procedure remained fraught with technological, human, and financial difficulties.
The registration process was carried out in stages around the country, according to the applicants.
They believed that the process of registering for and receiving a Ghana Card was wholly outside their power and control, and that it was solely dependent on the NIA’s procedure and methods.
The hearing has been scheduled for October 6, 2022.
Belynda Odey Hammond, Jennifer Elorm Dzikunu, Charity Mansah Afua N. Ackotia, Nsor Sabasi, Jospehine Annor Prempeh, Vida Delacy Kemovor, Regina Elikplim Dagadu, Irene Ayariga, and Tracy Ashong are among the applicants.
SOURCE: myjoyonline
