NCA, govt have sold Ghanaians’ identities with their bio-data to foreign and other third-party mobile network companies

It is very sad to see our NCA and the government of Ghana force Ghanaians to re-register their SIM cards with impunity and the so-called Ghana Card which in fact, has big flaws.

This exercise of SIM re-registration with Ghana Card should not be by force policy or act because customers already have their names captured with the SIM cards, hence, it would be injustice, unfair, and prejudicial on the part of the NCA and the Ghana government to ask the beneficiaries of Ghanaians bio-data, which are the mobile telecommunication network companies in Ghana to be capturing the bio-data of people.

They are not a national organization, they are private business entities. This act is a big threat to our individual and national security lapses.

The question is, what is the use of the National Identification Authority (NIA), which is the Ghana government organization to register Ghanaians by collecting all biodata as national assets and reserves? Therefore, why should the NCA and the government of Ghana give the power to foreign business companies to collect Ghanaians' bio information and data, why? What practice or policy is this? Please, NCA and the Ghana government, don’t you see that you have sold the Ghanaians?

Who is keeping the master data they have captured as individual mobile network companies? Even if these companies are to give the Ghana government access to the data they collected, it will only be a copy. It is very bad policy to have asked the mobile telecommunication network companies to collect such full data on Ghanaians which is blatantly wrong against the people of Ghana.

What the NCA and the government should note is that, if Ghanaians are going everywhere, it means the mobile network companies will have all the information, and now what is the use of our national security?

What else can the Ghana government or NCA protect us if our full database is been sold to third parties and foreign companies? What then is the purpose of the data collected by these mobile network companies and our National Identification Authority (NIA) database under the Ghana card registration?

Please, the world over, is that how they sold their country's bio-data to mobile network companies? Why are the NCA and the Ghana government doing this to Ghanaians? Bio-data of a country is a national asset and cannot be given out to third parties and foreign companies just like that. This must be corrected immediately. What happens to the Ghana Card data captured by the NIA?

Only a few of the data information should have been given to the mobile network companies to use such as only the full names, date of birth, and address (this is even problematic in this country, not accurate) for verification purposes and nothing else. Bio database is a national asset period.

Only security agencies must have access to such information within national responsible institutions such as NIA. Why involve mobile network business companies to collect all bio data on the people of Ghana? This is a national security and business threat going forward with such a bad arrangement and must be corrected.

I want the NCA and Ghana government and Ghanaians to note that there were very fundamental wrongs with the registration of the Ghana card, during and after the process. Hence, I advise the NCA and the government to do Ghanaians a favour by not treating them harshly and forcing them to re-register their SIMs based on their failures to form good policy and implement it according to world standards.

Therefore, the threats of cancelling or blocking SIM cards that are already and originally registered with names and dates of birth cannot be blocked, hence, such threats must be revoked by the NCA. At least only update of records should have been the process but not reregistration.

The NCA and Ghana government should note that we have very serious intellectuals in Ghana who also know how the management of the economy and public policies can be carried out efficiently and effectively and can add their knowledge to shape the economy. If the NCA and the Ghana government lack more ideas on how to develop economic management policies, then they should consult Ghanaians and not limit themselves to the limited knowledge within the government. Ghana is bigger than individuals and a government.

Finally, SIM cards already in operation should not be blocked but allow people to do record updates flexibly, because their names and date of birth are already captured when they bought the SIM. If not, is the NCA saying that the SIM cards in use have never been registered with names and others?

Because there are no jobs in Ghana or people don’t have work to do in the country the governments of Ghana always get Ghanaians to go out and queue from early morning till evening, just to reregister something, why? People's time is always wasted anyhow in this country.

The NCA and the government of Ghana must note that the Ghana card they are relying on has fundamental data collection process problems which can make it a useless card. This would be elaborated in my next advocacy article if this threat of blocking the SIM cards is not revoked because it is too harsh to treat the people you represent and work for like that.