Biometric data collected for 2022 Ghana SIM registration never authenticated: Official

The biometric data collected from millions of Ghanaians for a SIM card re-registration exercise three years ago was actually never used for the purpose for which it was intended.

For several months between 2021 and 2022, Ghanaian citizens went through a frustrating experience having to submit their biometrics again for what the government said at the time was a mandatory move to re-identify SIM card owners.

Telecommunications companies in the country played an active role in the process collecting fingerprint biometrics from their subscribers. Some of the telcos later proceeded with blocking SIM cards of subscribers who delayed in complying with the directive.

In the course of the exercise whose deadline was extended a number of times, citizens queued up for long hours trying to fulfil the requirement, even as many of them complained of being unable to complete the biometrics capture process due to lack of Ghana Cards.

However, the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Yayra Koku, confirmed recently that the biometrics collected were never used or matched against the NIA’s database.

“The fingerprints collected during the SIM card registration exercise in 2022 were never used to verify or authenticate SIM card owners against the National Identification Authority (NIA) system. They only took a picture of your fingerprints and saved them in whatever system they were using,” Koku wrote on his X account.

He emphasized that “captured fingerprints were not used to authenticate identities with any authoritative system,” citing a September 2021 leaked letter from the former Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof Kenneth Atafuah, to the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT).

Attafuah had said in the letter that the NIA could not guarantee the quality of the data collected by telcos given that that their devices had not been duly certified. He also raised concerns over the huge spending on the SIM re-registration process.

“It is important to understand that you cannot confirm the identity of an individual without them undergoing biometric authentication—which includes fingerprint scanning, facial recognition with liveliness checks, iris scanning, etc,” Koku added.

The SIM re-registration process was highly controversial. Some citizens even filed lawsuits questioning the legality of the exercise but the concerns were eventually dismissed by the Accra High Court.

Apparently in a move to now correct the failures from past attempts, the NIA disclosed recently that work is underway to establish a new framework for the identification of SIM cards by linking them with the Ghana Card.

Officials say the new framework is aimed at addressing the growing spate of fraud which has rocked the digital payments sector in the country in the last few years.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  Ghana  |  SIM card registration  |  telecom