Why SIM registration suspension doesn’t make sense

I am yet to get convinced on the justification for the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to suspend the registration of subscriber identification module (SIM) cards and generic numbers with the regulator through network operators.

If the explanation Minister of Information and Communications Technology Nicholas Dausi gave in the National Assembly last week in reaction to concerns by some legislators is anything to go by, the process-—set to run from January 1 to March 31 this year—lacked civic education. The minister feared some subscribers, especially in rural areas, would be disadvantaged.

Further, the minister is on record as having said no law was flouted in cancelling or suspending the process. I put it to the minister that Section 92 of the new Communications Act of 2016 was thrown out of the window.

In July 2016, Parliament passed Bill Number 24 of 2015, the Communications Act, paving the way for the Communications Act 2016 that replaced the outdated Communications Act of 1998. The revised law brought with it several changes, including the requirement for subscribers to register generic numbers and SIM cards.

Section 92 of the Communications Act 2016 provides: “A person who uses a generic number or owns or intends to use a SIM card for voice telephony services shall register that generic number or SIM card with any electronic communications licensee authorised to provide or sell generic numbers or SIM cards.”

I find the reaction of the said concerned legislators and even the minister emotional and based on lack of basis and information on the process. In fact, listening to the cases put up by the legislators for the postponement of the exercise, one wondered in which part of Malawi they live.

Granted, the process started with teething problems which saw subscribers standing long hours in queues to beat the March 31 deadline or risk having their numbers blocked as per the announcement from the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra).

With time, though, the network operators—notably TNM plc and Airtel Malawi—started improving the process. For TNM plc, it even introduced online registration where its employees were given rights to capture subscriber data using their phone.

In the case of Airtel, the company was increasing the number of agents entrusted with the registration process to ease congestion at its offices.

The argument about rural areas being disadvantaged does not hold either. I recall finding mobile registration teams for both Airtel and TNM plc at some trading centres along the Blantyre-Lilongwe M1 Road. Upon enquiring how they were conducting the exercise, some team members told me they were targeting trading centres on market days and that in the process they were also penetrating some radius around markets.

People in decision-making positions should refrain from making decisions that affect the larger population based on their emotions or ignorance. It is a very dangerous path to take, especially on national matters.

Under normal circumstances, Parliament, through its relevant committee, should have summoned Macra and the operators to a meeting to explain the roll out plan and strategy for the SIM and generic numbers registration process. It is from such an interaction that an informed way forward should have been made.

Many Malawians, both in rural and urban set-ups, were and still remain eager to take part in the process. The suspension has, in my view, frustrated them.

By the way, who was supposed to undertake the civic education drive for the process? Certainly, not the operators! There is a whole Ministry of Civic Education and Culture for such tasks. By implication, Dausi’s remarks suggested that this ministry failed in its role.

Malawi needed the SIM card registration yesterday. Malawi remains one of the few countries—and the only one in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc)—where SIM cards are sold like tomatoes without getting details of the buyer. It is this chaos that is breeding crimes and indeed victimising innocent subscribers.

Due to the lack of SIM card registration, thugs and other unscrupulous individuals are duping innocent citizens using cards they buy solely for their mission. With SIM registration, such criminals will have their days numbered as they will easily be traced.

It is my humble plea to the minister and Parliament to reconsider the decision. n