• Sim re-registration would reduce criminal activities to some extent

Any person who understands why the sim card re-registration exercise is necessary will come to appreciate its value in terms of na­tional security for all people residing in the country.

If it is possible for any group of people to use tricks to deceive busi­ness men and women in the country, then we all need to be careful about our safety and security.

This is because without security in the country, the safety of business men cannot be guaranteed and when this happens, the economy would not be able to grow in the way expected.

Furthermore, whenever crimes move high in the country, it puts fear in everyone, making it difficult for many to go about their normal activities.

Peace and security are therefore very important for the good of every country. Criminal activities cannot be totally eliminated from any part of the world.

However, when they are mini­mised, they help to boost confidence in the economy and thus help both lo­cal and foreign investors to go about their duties with ease.

In addition, the confidence they gain encourages them to believe in the system in which they operate since they know that at any point in time, their economic and business in­terests would be adequately protect­ed by the state.

The question that arises now is “why is the Ministry of Communica­tion and Digitisation seriously com­mitted to ensuring that every SIM card in the country is re-registered?”

The issue of traceability here is very important and it should be pos­sible for the State to trace the source of every call made in this country to enable us know that they are not coming from scammers or tricksters.

If we understand things so well in this way, we can have our peace to go about every business in this country. Any call made in any part of this country, is intended for criminal activities, should be traced from its source by national security officers.

If we are not able to trace the source, then our safety is in jeopar­dy. This will put us in great danger since criminals will have a field day and engage in all kinds of unpleasant, nefarious activities. Such activities are unproductive and must be dis­couraged without delay.

This explains why traceability of all calls is very important. It should be possible for us to trace the sources of all calls so that criminals in the country can be weeded out.

In the first place, under the current re-registration exercise, the personal details of every individual is captured. Secondly, the bio-data of the person is also captured.

With the carrying of such data, it becomes easy to trace calls from any part of the country especially when evil intentions can be imputed. As at now, it is not all SIM cards that have been properly registered.

For this reason, criminal activities are still ongoing. To prevent this situ­ation, the Ministry of Communication and Digitisation has come out to say that all SIM cards that have not been properly re-registered will be blocked after November 30 this year.

This means that such unregistered cards cannot be used to make calls or transact business in any way. This exercise is meant to sanitise the system and prevent a situation where unknown SIM cards may be used for some criminal activities.

In the past, it was easy for any person to get a SIM card anywhere and use it to make genuine calls or alternatively use it for criminal activ­ities. When businessmen and women are protected from this criminal activity, it becomes easy for them, as has been pointed out already, to have confidence in the economic system and go about their duties with ease.

This helps to promote business expansion as well as ensuring eco­nomic growth and increased welfare for everyone in the country.

When criminal activities esca­late, they discourage people from carrying out their business activities with ease. On the other hand, where criminal activities are about nil in this way, business confidence be­comes rekindled and this helps many individuals and business organisations to carry out their business operations in the way expected.

This means that in all sectors of the economy, whether in agricul­ture, health, trade, education or in any other sector, activities move on smoothly and profit margins keep es­calating to higher levels. This is what Ghana needs today.

With the implementation of many programmes such as One District One Factory; Agenda 111 under which Dis­trict and regional hospitals are being built across the country; Planting for Food and Jobs and for Export; and many other programmes that are ongoing, there is the need for every person in the country to know that good policies are being implemented and that we need to protect every person to make everyone feel safe in the country.

If this is the case, then we need to pay serious attention to the SIM card re-registration to guarantee the security and safety of every person irrespective of where you find your­self in the country. This is what the country needs so let each and every one support the SIM card re-regis­tration in our own interest and live above pettiness.

Email address/whatsApp number of author:

Pradmat201@gmail.com (0553318911)

By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediako