The High Court in Accra is expected to hear the interlocutory injunction filed by some 9 citizens against the National Communications Authority(NCA) and the Attorney General(AG) over directives to block unregistered SIM Cards.
A pressure group, The People’s Project (TPP), has dragged the National Communications Authority (NCA) and the Attorney-General (A-G) to court over the imminent actions against unregistered SIM users.
They want the apex court to declare the deadline and the associated punitive measures null and void.
In a writ issued on Friday, September 9, the group said the sanction amounts to abuse of discretion, therefore seeking:
“A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Articles 2, 23, and 296 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the directive by the Minister for Communication, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful on Sunday, July 31, 2022, that the 1st Defendant will ensure that all SIM cards that are not re-registered by 30th September 2022 will be blocked while the National Identification Authority has not been able to issue the Ghana card which is the only card to be used for the said re-registration exercise to all Ghanaians is arbitrary, capricious, amounts to an abuse of discretion and same is unconstitutional, null, void and of no legal effect.”
The group also wants the Supreme Court to declare the punitive measures currently being implemented by the NCA which includes blocking calls declared as unconstitutional.
The full blocking of unregistered SIM users is set to begin after the September 30 deadline.
Early on, a statement issued by the NCA to all the Mobile Network Operators directed as part of the sanctions, a re-routing of outgoing calls for special messages to be played for all unregistered SIM cards.
Also in the interim, the NCA asked that some numbers be blocked for outgoing calls and data services for 48 hours once every week on a rotational basis.
“Subscribers who fully register their SIM Cards within the period they have been blocked will only be unblocked by the MNOs after the 48 hours to avoid the MNOs tampering with their systems intermittently,” the document noted.
