Why Ghana must have the CEIR now!

This date, July 4, 2025, would continue to sting Nene Buer Boyetey for a long time to come, unless something extraordinary happens, and reverses the horrendous experience of the night – and that must be the discovery and recovery of his stolen phone.

Nene works in the creative industry, and like many creatives, has come to depend heavily on his phone – he types ideas, contacts, plays around with AI and so on – on this phone, an iPhone.

It was the winding down of a normal day that fateful July 4 night. He was driving. The time was around 10pm at Abelemkpe junction in Accra, when a miscreant invaded his car as he drove, put the hand in the car and snatched away his 512GB iPhone 11 Pro Max in a blink. He didn’t realise when a sudden rush of trepidation, mixed with anger rushed through his entire body. He felt the trauma of the incident. His phone, which held precious drafts, including work for clients and video clips vanished into the night. He frantically made a post on Facebook calling for help. He later made a report to the police.

An hour later, he tracked the phone to Kpone Katamanso. The following day, tracking the phone, he went with three armed police officers to Kpone Katamanso, to some slums, broke into three rooms, but found nothing. He is still reeling from the pain, anger and despair, while he looks for ways to get around work.

If Ghana had a CEIR to track missing or stolen phones

But Nene and other victims of mobile phone thefts wouldn’t have to go through too much emotional turmoil if Ghana had set up a Central Equipment Identity Registry (CEIR).

So far, India is known to have deployed the CEIR system with some success. The CEIR is a technology that is used as a database of mobile phones in a particular jurisdiction. Once the mobile devices are registered onto the system using their unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, the CEIR is used to manage and track them when they are reported missing or stolen.

The CEIR is an effective and efficient technology for combating mobile phone thefts and misuse. The technology also becomes useful as a central database to identify and manage devices across different networks.

Every mobile phone has a unique 15-digit IMEI number. The IMEI number is like a fingerprint for the device and can be used to manage and track the device using the CEIR. If and when a phone is lost or stolen, the victim would make a police report, then logon to the CEIR platform, create an account and report the missing phone. The system then blocks the phone. Once the phone is blocked its IMEI is blacklisted and shared with all mobile service providers – this makes the phone useless. It can’t be registered on any network within the country.

No public data on stolen phones

Even though mobile phone thefts are increasing, with some happening in broad day light, there is still no publicly available data on the number stolen at any given time.

A CEIR will serve as a solid database of missing or stolen phones, as well as misused phones – especially in the cases of mobile money fraud and or crimes involving mobile phones. A CEIR would also enable smooth operation for law enforcement, and build up confidence of the citizens in the security services.

CEIR and counterfeit phones

There are many counterfeit phones in the system. The CEIR is a useful system for blacklisting them as all dealers would be required to register phones being sold in the country – that way counterfeit phones would be weeded out of the system.

CEIR can boost tourism

The deployment of the CEIR can serve to boost tourism in the country. Visitors to the country often fall victim to mobile phone thieves. The operationalisation of the CEIR can deter thieves, because there would be no place to hide, and tourists would be confident visiting Ghana where there would have no fear of losing their phone to thieves.

Ghana urgently needs to invest in the CEIR technology now, because mobile phone thefts is on the rise and citizens are losing too much – financial loss, physical damage, as in knife attacks in some instances, and emotional pain. The CEIR would certainly curb the theft of devices and make the public use and carrying of mobile phones safe.

By Emmanuel K Dogbevi

The post Why Ghana must have the CEIR now! appeared first on Ghana Business News.

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