By Mohammed Awal
Ghana Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated that government will soon begin a SIM card re-registration exercise. The exercise is expected to commence latest by June and the primary document required for that purpose is the National Identification card. The vice president made the disclosure at the ongoing 5th Ghana CEO summit in Accra.
Dr. Bawumia warned that anyone who fails to take part in the re-registration of the SIM card with the National Identification card risks losing his or her SIM card.
“…Everybody will have to register their SIM with a National ID number,” he stated.
“We all have to do that otherwise we’ll lose that SIM card and that will really give us a real identity for all MoMo transactions. For example, it takes away fraud…that is taking place like SIM box and through MoMo,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in partnership with the National Identification Authority (NIA) started using the Ghana Card identification number as a taxpayer identification number.
The GRA in a statement said effective April 1, 2021, the Ghana Card number (Ghana card PIN) will replace the Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN).
It is in line with the government’s policy on the use of a unique identifier for all transactions where the identification of an individual is required.
It was earlier reported that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had announced that from April 1, 2021, all identification card numbers would become Tax Identification Numbers.
He made this known while delivering his first State of the Nation’s Address after being elected for his second term in parliament on March 9, 2021.
Akufo-Addo said by so doing, the number of people registered by the Ghana Revenue Authority for tax purposes will increase from three million to 15 million people.
Source: YEN.com.gh