In the midst of raging court battles, the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda has extended to May 19th the SIM card registration deadline.
Rugunda released a second statement on Wednesday after he chaired a meeting of different government agencies to review and harmonise progress on the ongoing exercise.
In a directive to Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) boss Geoffrey Mutabazi, stated that the government had decided to give Ugandans more time to register.
Government has decided & directed that the #SIMCardRegistration #SimcardVerification exercise be extended to 19th May 2017. @UCC_Official pic.twitter.com/REXKvByQXm
— Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda (@RuhakanaR) April 19, 2017
“Reference is made to your letter dated 11th April 2017 wherein you directed all telecommunications service providers to verify all SIM card subscriber details within 7 days from Wednesday 12th April 2017. You directed that all subscribers of telecommunications services must update their SIM card registration details using their National Identification Card number, and all Sim cards whose details were not updated and verified by Thursday 20th April 2017 would be deactivated,” the letter reads.
This follows activists dragging to the High Court, challenging the ongoing SIM card subscriber verification process.
On April 12, UCC issued a seven-day ultimatum within which all subscribers of telecom services have to update their SIM card details using only their national identification card.
Following a meeting with various telecom companies, UCC warned that all SIM cards whose details are not updated and verified by service providers before Thursday would be deactivated. But according to the petitioners, it was unfair and unconstitutional for UCC to restrict citizens to using only national IDs for registration yet there are other official documents like passports which foreign nationals were allowed to use for the exercise.
