Former Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has issued a strong rebuttal to claims that a personal vendetta undermined Ghana’s biometric SIM card registration exercise.
In a detailed statement released on Friday, March 20, 2026, the former minister categorically denied allegations of a “feud” with Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, former Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA).
Her response follows remarks by President John Dramani Mahama, who suggested during his “Resetting Ghana” tour that personal friction between the two officials compromised the integrity of the national data exercise.
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful clarified that although there were technical disagreements between their respective institutions, they never escalated into the personal animosity suggested by the President. She maintained that her relationship with Prof. Attafuah remained cordial throughout the 2022–2023 period.
“Now, a lot has been said to create the impression that the problems with the exercise were because of personal issues or bad blood between institutions. That is simply not true. I have known Professor Attafuah for many years and at no point in time did we ever stop speaking to each other either personally or professionally,” she stated.
She further emphasised her professionalism and commitment to duty:
“We may have had disagreements, but I am too professional to allow differences of opinion to affect my work in any way.”
The former minister pointed to a specific technical policy, rather than personal discord, as the primary challenge during the registration exercise. She revealed that the NIA declined to grant the SIM registration system direct, real-time access to its biometric database during the second stage of verification.
Despite this limitation, she defended the scale and success of the project:
- Nearly 30 million SIM cards were successfully registered and linked to the Ghana Card.
- A 2025 audit confirmed that over 80% of facial biometrics collected during the exercise matched NIA records.
- The exercise helped establish a comprehensive and functional national database for the telecommunications sector.
She concluded by cautioning the current administration against dismantling established digital infrastructure for political optics, urging instead that the existing foundation be strengthened.
The exchange marks a deepening debate over Ghana’s digital identity architecture, as the current government moves toward a new registration phase aimed at achieving 100% integration with the NIA’s backend systems.
