Features
Sim card re-registration and economic growth (final part)
• 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
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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