Editorial: We Welcome Directive To Register SIM Card Subscribers

The directive by the National Communication Authority (NCA) to operators of Mobile telephone services in the country to register all users of SIM card cannot but be applauded. GO is happy that the National Security council Secretariat has waded into the matter with an intervention that the SIM card registration should take place by Christmas this year. The advantages of the implementation of the NCA�s directive cannot be lost on anyone, particularly against the backdrop of the criminal uses to which people are putting mobile telephones these days. From advance have been resorted to by criminals. The security agencies have on the other hand been found wanting in their attempts to track down many perpetrators of criminal acts because of the regime prevailing as to how to acquire a SIM card. With the present arrangement, any person can just walk to a street vendor and buy a SIM card which starts working immediately it is activated. It is this situation that has resulted in the growing confidence of criminals. Some criminals buy SIM cards which they use for specific operations after which they throw the SIM cards to avoid detection of their roles in the crime. GO in expressing support for the NCA and National Security Council�s directives to the mobile telephony companies is conscious of the fact that the world is putting identity issues on the front burner because of the growing sophistication in crime. If banks have become notoriously known for their policy of �know your customer,� it is about time that mobile telephony companies are also made to know their customers. We recognise the fat that all mobile telephony companies in Ghana have over the years assisted the security agencies with information as to the calls criminals make on their mobile phones. However, in some cases, merely providing the call histories of criminals has only gone to compound the conundrums facing the security agencies in tracking down criminals. GO takes this opportunity to suggest to the NCA explore the possibility of providing a mobile telephone directory with the help of the mobile telephony companies. Such a step will go a long way to thwart the intentions of those who resort to mobile telephones to commit crimes. As Ghana continues to introduce measures to harness its development potentials, it requires a safe business environment which will make it almost impossible for crime to thrive. Ghana cannot afford to be overtaken by criminals using loopholes in our mobile telephony services.