Selorm Branttie, a Vice President of IMANI Africa, has opened a can of worms by looking into the Akufo-Addo government’s decision to get the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization to re-register the SIM cards of mobile phone users.
Mr Branttie, discovered that the deal was not only entrusted into the hands of a Kenyan company, Pitstop Technologies with no track record, hence the frustration Ghanaians were currently going through, but the biometric data details of Ghanaians as far as their mobile phone SIM cards are concerned, are in the domain of foreigners as a result of the re-registration exercise.
According to him, Pitstop Technologies’ track record in biometric data systems is in registering a single company, Soy Farmers, in Kenya.
Mr Branttie, on his Facebook timeline, explained, “After the complaints being made by agents of the SIM card registration activity and the bottlenecks, I decided this evening to figure out exactly what was going on” adding, “this post here reveals some very interesting, if not worrying information that I believe every Ghanaian should be concerned about, regardless of your race, creed or loyalty.”
Sometime last year, The Herald, picked up claims that the owners of Frontiers Healthcare Services Limited, who have partnered Ghana Airport Company Limited for the Coronavirus testing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), were behind the re-registration exercise, but others have mentioned Ursula Owusu-Ekuful’s Kelni GVG, as the company behind the exercise with the Kenyans only acting as a front.
More Read
The Herald, also got intelligence that, the National Communication Authority (NCA) also dished out between GH¢6 to GH¢10 million on awareness creation on the exercise that has seen long queues at various telco offices, and had been tedious and frustrating.
Questions are being raised about how Kelni GVG, got the contract and re-awarded it to Pitstop Technologies and at what cost to the state?
Kelni GVG, has a permanent seat at the Ministry of Communications on the claim of being a technical advisor to both the Ministry and the NCA, but details of these arrangements are top secret.
One Andrew Mutua, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pesa Kit, has also been linked to Pitstop Technologies, but interestingly even the CEO and the registrant, doesn’t publicly associate with the company.
The Kenyan company, is said to be registered in faraway Malta – Details of the Pitstop Tech Limited obtained from Malta -Ewropa Business Centre, Level 3-701, Dun Karm Street, Birkirkara -, just as Kelni GVG, is registered in Haiti with directors and other brains behind it largely known to Ursula Owusu and her inner circle.
Again, the Kenya company doing the SIM card re-registration, has characteristics similar with Frontiers Healthcare Services Limited owned by Benedict Peters, a Nigerian national resident in Ghana and friend to the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo.
Frontiers, is widely reported to have been registered by Benedict Peters, as an offshore company in the Dominican Republic.
There are reports of a deliberate effort on the part of government actors to help the company to make money by charging outrageous amounts at the Kotoka International Airport for testing passengers arriving in the country and detaining some of them at expensive hotels owned by persons connected to the President under the cloak of having contracted the COVID-19 virus.
Most of these persons, have protested and even fought nurses and state security agents, insisting that their checks done after Benedict Peters’ outfit had pronounced them infested, showed they had no COVID.
Mr Branttie wrote “the whole country of Ghana, with its 42 million active SIM registrations, has been entrusted with a company that registered Soy Farmers in a county in Kenya in 2019 with no website.
Comparatively, the Electoral Commission which was doing around 18 million voter registrations, used companies that are already in the space and known for undertaking these activities, for which I don’t need to mention names, because they are not the focus of the post.
From the President, down to the beggar on the street with a phone, all of us, our biodata and our fingerprint data is being handled by a company without a website, with no references, no track record, no identifiable activities anywhere in the world, but a tiny county the size of Ga East District to handle biometrics.
“The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization has handed the whole nation’s activities to this organization or entity, as far as the digital trail goes. There are many questions we should begin to ask about the technical implementation considerations that went on with an activity like this, which I will ask in a Part 2 tomorrow morning so I don’t flood you with too much data. For now, chew on the fact that our data is in the hands of literal amateurs. Do what you wish with the info while we visit this issue again tomorrow”, the IMANI vice boss said.
According to Mr Branttie, “a check on a universal database on the registrars of the ghanaid.com website reveals more. The WHOIS raw data is also exhibited in the attached pictures. The website was registered on the 27th of July 2021.
Coincidentally, the Minister of Communications, announced in August the re-registration activity with the view to reduce and eradicate fraud and outlined a time period from October to March 31st 2022.
The Company that Registered the Ghanaid Website is called Pitstop Technologies and the registrant is from Kenya. The details of the registrant are on the WHOIS Raw Data. A check on LinkedIn, however, shows the registrar as the CEO of another company, altogether with only 2 mentions of him linked to Pitstop Technologies online.
One is about a litigation with another company for branding activity and the other is about Registration of Soy Farmers. Hold on, we will get back to that soon….
Below is Mr. Branttie’s full post.
Fellow Ghanaians, The President of Ghana, HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has entrusted his biometric data into the hands of a Kenyan company whose only track record in biometric data systems is registering Soy Farmers in a county in Kenya. After the complaints being made by agents of the SIM card registration activity and the bottlenecks, I decided this evening to figure out exactly what was going on. This post here reveals some very interesting, if not worrying information that I believe every Ghanaian should be concerned about, regardless of your race, creed or loyalty.
- The App that is used for the SIM Re-registration exercise is called the Ghana SIM Registration Agent App. You can find it on Google Play Store with a search with the same name.
2. In the attached pictures, the first picture displays the name on the Google App store, as well as the number of downloads. Interestingly, you will also see several reviews of the App, almost all of which tell the frustrations of the users while trying to register poor SIM card owners.
3. A further look down will show the details of the developer. Usually, there will be details about the developer, their offices, their address and others. In this case, for whatever reason, there is only an email address, [email protected].
4. Refer to the pictures. There is no website that exists for Ghanaid.com. Feel free to check the website on your browser, and take a screenshot for reference. It is a blank white page. Please refer to attached pictures as of today 06-01-2021.
5. A check on a universal database on the registrars of the ghanaid.com website reveals more. The WHOIS raw data is also exhibited in the attached pictures. The website was registered on the 27th of July 2021. Coincidentally, the Minister of Communication announced in August the re-registration activity with the view to reduce and eradicate fraud and outlined a time period from October to March 31st 2022. Exhibits attached.
6. The Company that Registered the Ghanaid Website is called Pitstop Technologies and the registrant is from Kenya. The details of the registrant are on the WHOIS Raw Data. A check on LinkedIn however shows the registrar as the CEO of another company altogether with only 2 mentions of him linked to Pitstop Technologies online. One is about a litigation with another company for branding activity and the other is about Registration of Soy Farmers. Hold on, we will get back to that soon… Exhibits are attached.
7. There is no website for pitstop technologies limited anywhere. Google it. Search high and low for it. Go everywhere. I stand to be corrected with a national apology wearing sackcloth if you find it between today and tomorrow. A further search for Pitstop Technologies reveals a company with a similar name registered in Malta in 2018. That company’s registration status is however invalid since last year. Exhibits attached. #
8. The other mention of Pitstop Technologies is an article in February 2019 about an exercise to register biometrically Soy Farmers in Gishu County in Kenya. That is the only existing track record of the company’s ability to biometrically register anyone on any database. For reference, Usain Gishu County map in Kenya is also attached. The initiative was called Mkulima initiative and the Facebook and Twitter handles, engagement and following which are the only evidence of that biometric program are attached here for you all to see.
9. The whole country of Ghana, with its 42 million active SIM registrations, has been entrusted with a company that registered Soy Farmers in a county in Kenya in 2019 with no website. Comparatively, the Electoral Commission which was doing around 18 million voter registrations used companies that are already in the space and known for undertaking these activities, for which I don’t need to mention names because they are not the focus of the post. From the President down to the beggar on the street with a phone, all of us, our biodata and our fingerprint data is being handled by a company without a website, with no references, no track record, no identifiable activities anywhere in the world but a tiny county the size of Ga East District to handle biometrics.
10. The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization has handed the whole nation’s activities to this organization or entity, as far as the digital trail goes. There are many questions we should begin to ask about the technical implementation considerations that went on with an activity like this, which I will ask in a Part 2 tomorrow morning so I don’t flood you with too much data. For now, chew on the fact that our data is in the hands of literal amateurs. Do what you wish with the info while we visit this issue again tomorrow.
