The sim registration app that will be released this week has drawn criticism, according to Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, minister of communications and digitalization.
She said that the government is not making money off of the 5 cedis extra for using the app.
The Minister stated during a radio interview with Asaase that the app will assist in easing the difficulties Ghanaians encounter while re-registering their SIM cards and that it is not about money.
There is a GHC5 cost for the self-service registration application, which will be made available on both the Android and iOS platforms.
“The sim registration app will be available for download on both android and IOS this week, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Each registration via the app will be subject to a GHC5 surcharge,” the minister said over the weekend.
“Nobody is seeking to make any profit. I listen to these things and I cringe that, is that what we have been reduced to.”
“Does everything has to be about money in this our country?” the minister asked. “People can’t deliver a service because it is needed and not hope to profit from it, where is our sense of duty to our country and our sense of nationality,” she said.
The National Communications Authority has nonetheless stated that the app creators will get the usage fee.
The payment will be made directly to the software creators for upkeep, according to Kwame Gyan, the NCA’s deputy director of corporate affairs.
Mr. Gyan stated that neither the NCA nor the Ministry of Communications will accept that money in an interview with Citi FM based in Accra.
According to him, “the money goes to the app developers; people who created and are maintaining the app.”
The NCA is not where it goes, Mr. Gyan clarified.
