Ghanaians who have gone through the stress in acquiring their Ghana Card issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA), specifically for their SIM Card re-registration, have bemoaned the long queues at the various Telecommunication offices.
As it stands now, persons who have re-registered their SIM cards as directed by the Ministry of Communication and Digitalization are required to visit the offices of their network providers (MTN, Vodafone, Airtel-Tigo, Glo) to undergo a biometric registration.
Several aggrieved Ghanaians have taken to social media platforms to detail the challenges they have experienced in the process, right from the long queues, to the amount of time wasted at those offices.
To many, the biometric registration with their Telcos is a waste of time, especially when they have already gone through a biometric process for the Ghana Card.
Mubby Jnr on Twitter wrote: “Why should we go to the various networks offices for biometric verification whilst it’s already on our Ghana card? What sort of stress is that.”
Samp Doug also wrote: “I went to my hometown and I felt very sorry for the people there. They have to travel abt 40km b4 getting to a telco office. I asked myself how can a sick person in bed travel to an office in person to complete this process. Selfish leaders in GH.”
Yet another wrote, “Biometric data was collected during Ghana card registration, now linking your SIM card to same Ghana card requires taking of another biometric data. Doesn’t make sense. (Just creating long queues) My country.”
A section of the public also raised concerns about the large crowds gathered at the various offices, which they believe can lead to the spread of the deadly COVID-19, especially when the country is recording high cases due to the new OMICRON variant.
Other online users have also shared other perspectives and advice on how this process could have been executed.
Annan Perry had this to say: “I’m not bothered about this Ghana card sim registration. You claim Covid-19 figures keep rising but you can’t reason to tell MTN, VODAFONE, AIRTEL-TIGO to rather move to the people instead of the people piling up at the respective offices. One MTN office serving 5 constituencies.”
Also, Benyta on Twitter has tasked the appropriate authorities to find an immediate solution to the concerns raised by the public especially with regards to the breach of COVID-19 safety protocols.
“Everyone seems to be talking about the Ghana Card and the long queues with all these stress which I totally agree….but why is no one talking about how they promoting the spread of COVID This same government that is supposedly following COVID protocols,” she wrote.
There are several others who are yet to get their Ghana Card which is the only acceptable card for the SIM re-registration. They have also stated long queues at NIA offices as a major hindrance.
Naa Dei on Twitter had this to say: “This ghana card-sim registration thing, be like they’ll block my SIM o because I don’t have time for this queue. Why do you have to capture our biometrics again if NIA has that information and we are using our GHANA CARD??? Why can’t we just link it and go?”
Melissa Bawa also detailing her experience wrote: “It’s like the people who are doing the Ghana card don’t want to do the Ghana card, I’ve been there 3 times, and they keep telling me to go and come back, like I haven’t even filled the form yet o. I stress forking.”
The deadline for the SIM re-registration exercise is March 31, persons who fail to re-register their old numbers risk having their SIM cards deactivated, this is according to the Minister of Communication and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.
“We must reduce the incidence of mobile device-related cybercrimes. All unregistered SIMs will be deactivated at the end of the registration exercise. We will enforce the law to the letter,” she said.
Below are some reactions from Ghanaians:
Source: ghanaweb
