Kampala, (UG):- Parliament has called for the penalization of telecom companies that have failed to heed the directive to have all unregistered SIM cards switched off from the network.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said on Thursday during plenary that some fraudsters are using unregistered SIM cards to commit crime and that telecom companies should be fined for allowing people to use unregistered SIM cards.
“We were told that all the numbers that weren’t registered were removed from the network. In fact, what happened in Nigeria was that telecoms were fined heavily for numbers that were not registered. Numbers that are not registered are committing a lot of crimes, and they are conning people every day. Who are these people? And why don’t you punish the telecoms that are allowing these fraudsters to keep using these numbers?” Tayebwa said.
Tayebwa said that there is a fraudster who has been disguising as an engineer and trying to scam members of parliament. He said he has already reached out to many MPs.
“This fraudster has only been changing numbers, but he has reached out to many MPs, and he is stealing in the name of Banyakore; that he is Byarugaba,” he added.
Minister of ICT and National Guidance Dr. Chris Baryomunsi said he is going to investigate and impose heavy sanctions on telecom companies that are still granting access to unregistered numbers.
“I am going to engage the telecom companies again because it appears that some people access unregistered numbers because for them they claim, maybe they have been using numbers of dead people, but we are going to investigate with the view of outing heavy sanctions on the telecom companies if we establish that there is still a gap where individuals can access numbers without registration,” he said.
Minister of defense and veteran affairs Oboth Oboth said there is a need to create liability on the service provider if sanity is to be restored. He said many Ugandans have been killed and robbed by criminals who have access to unregistered numbers.
“We need to create liability on the service providers to restore sanity. There is no service provider who will allow unregistered numbers to be used; they should have a penalty because criminals in Uganda, like in any other country, use phones. They know they can use this phone, drop and pick another one. This is not a small matter; people have been killed, people have been robbed, while criminals are coordinating,” he said.
Minister Oboth Oboth said parliament can solve the problem of access to unregistered numbers through legislation.
In June 2023, the Uganda Communication Commission directed all telecom operators to ensure all their customers register and verify their SIMcards. The directive was intended to reduce the crime rate in the country with the aid of SIM cards.
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