W/R: Residents express frustration over SIM card reregistration

Some residents in the Western Region have expressed frustrations over the long queues and delays at the SIM card reregistration centres, making them wonder if they could meet the March 2022 deadline.

The Telecos, through an order from the National Communication Authority and the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunication, gave their customers up to March 4, 2022 to have their SIM cards registered but the rush in January at many centers the GNA visited was overwhelming.

Most of the centres had long queues which saw the young and the old struggling to be attended to amidst misunderstandings over who came first and who was receiving protocol treatment.

Investigations revealed that some people had even travelled from the hinterlands to be in Takoradi for the process.

Mr Stephen Essien Blay, A resident from Tikobo No.1, in the Jomoro District, told the GNA how he had to travel at dawn to be in Takoradi to register his SIM cards.

“I have been to Half Assini office, they told me they were not operating, Tikobo too the same, I had to come to Takoradi because my son will be sending money on it,” he said.

Mr Blay, therefore, entreated the Government to impress on the Telescos to open up the registration centres to cover the remotest parts of the country for everyone to register within the stipulated time.

Maame Adjoa Maanan, a government employee, prayed that the Telecos created desks at the various government departments and agencies to enable workers to register without having to use working hours to queue for the exercise.

Mr Kofi Nyarko, an IT specialist, said: “Why do we have to move to the offices of service providers even after online registration on our phone, what is then the use of the Ghana Card, which has our biometric details?”

He said registering with the Ghana Card was enough to avoid the stress Ghanaians had to endure, adding:

“We should begin being very innovative in our quest for growth”.

Nana Kofi Fiamo, an economist, described the process as a “waste of productive man hours,” adding that the convergence by people at one place, most of whom were without masks, could derail the gains made in the COVID-19 prevention and control