Minority blames communications Ministry for stampede at NIA

Accra, March 22 GNA – The Minority in Parliament has faulted the Ministry for Communications for the stampede that occurred at the National Identification Authority (NIA) head office at Shiashie, in which one person got injured.

The group attributed the incident to the badly considered directive from the Ministry for Communications that by March 31, 2022, if the SIM cards are not re-registered, they would be deactivated.

Mr Samuel Nartey George, Deputy Ranking Member on the Communications Committee addressing the media in Parliament House stated that the instruction by the Communications Ministry created panic in some people, thus the rush to meet the deadline causing the stampede.

He said the Minister for Communication and the Director-General of the National Communication Authority (NCA) could have been proactive to avoid the incident.

“This should not have happened, whatever the faith of the injured persons is, we hold the Minister for Communications and the Director General of the NCA solely responsible for the unfortunate incident that has happened. The NCA and the Minister for Communication are fully aware that the directive they have given is untenable. It makes no meaning to suggest that on 31st March 2022 they would deactivate sim cards”

Mr Sam George also urged the NIA to halt the mass registration of identification cards at their offices and channel their resources to the district offices to prevent citizens from traveling long distances and massing up at the NIA offices.

“The NIA remains a national security installation, the integrity of the biodata is as stake. Today it is stampede… tomorrow it could be arson. How do you handle this with the number that you are allowing there?” he questioned.

He said per the NCA’s own report, less than eight million sim cards had been registered and there were over 40 million active sim cards and questioned whether the NCA would deactivate the 32 million sim cards.

Mr Sam George also called for an extension of the deadline for the re-registration and an apology to the victims and families of the injured

“You will expect a proactive agency and ministry to have by now announced the extension of the re-registration of the sim cards” he added.

He said even though they received information, the government is willing to extend the deadline for re-registration but does not know what is holding them back.

GNA