One time I was in Dubai with my friends, relaxing and having fun, then there came a need for me to leave for London immediately as an opportunity call had come through. It was as urgent as I must leave immediately on the next available flight – but I would need a COVID test done before I could rush to the airport.
Whilst I was being livid about the timing of the urgency to travel, my friends were laughing at my worry about getting the Covid result done instantly. To my surprise, they just made a call, and a Covid team arrived at our villa within 7 minutes. They came with a mobile kit that had everything, my sample and bio data were taken, and payment was made via card. Instantly I got an email that my Covid test details have been taken, and my result will be emailed to me in a few hours.
Within 2 hours, the result was in my mail, and they even called me to follow up if I have received the result and I confirmed. It was a premium service, but I needed it and I loved it.
This morning, I helped drive two friends to Junction Mall MTN office by 7:00 am; one, his number has been blocked because he hasn’t registered due to the absence of a Ghana Card. For the second one, he registered and linked the card, but hadn’t gone to the MTN office for Biometric Capture.
Guys, the crowd at the MTN office at 7:00 am was unbelievable. A mammoth crowd at one location who are likely to be there the whole day wasting productive time. When I spoke to a few, they were confused because they had not been given Ghana Card due to NIA’s delays and yet can’t do business anymore because their sim is blocked.
The one that blew my mind, someone who had come to link the card and done his biometric capture yesterday, still couldn’t dial out, and when he came to find out from MTN why he’s still call barred, they told him it will take up 48hours before he can start using his number, and that it’s a punishment for not coming to do it in time.
I was completely stupefied! That we, black people, can think this way! I intentionally asked the man that why didn’t he also come and do it all this while, and he said he wasn’t in Ghana, he works abroad and visits occasionally, so he just happened to be around now and wanted to do it once and for all, then it dawned on me that it’s a legitimate scenario, some people may just haven’t been in town to have done the capture. Why should they be punished?
Why should people wait for 48hours for SIM cards to be unblocked even after they have been to the MTN office to complete their registration? Why is the unblocking not real-time? What sort of people are we? We just love to see put ourselves in pain.
Come to Junction Mall MTN office now and see the fight ongoing here, it’s all chaotic and people are fighting.
So who planned this mess? Why is it that someone hasn’t been given Ghana Card by NIA, yet he is expected to register SIM with Ghana Card, and his Sim has been blocked for not registering? Why are we punishing citizens for state institutions’ failure?
Couldn’t we have taken our time to sift the data properly and segregate those who are guilty of their negligence from those who have done all they should do at their end but for the failure of state institutions haven’t been able to register? Why are we punishing everyone altogether including the innocent?
DESIGN THINKING SOLUTIONS
1. First of all, this is so simple; it’s not rocket science, if a biometric capture has been done to complete registration, that Sim should be activated instantly. It is stupid and wicked to say that the person’s sim should stay blocked for another 48 hours as a punishment. Punishment to achieve what? When businesses need to be done! LET THE DAMN SIM WORK IMMEDIATELY ONCE REGISTRATION IS COMPLETED!
Someone is jobless, he is trying to follow up on his applications, and you have blocked him from going to haunt for daily bread.
Someone is dying, he is trying to call a Doctor for an emergency, or a Doctor is trying to make a call to save a life, you have blocked his Sim. What special kind of evil spirit are you?
2. Why can’t we have Mobile Teams that can come to your homes or offices to complete the Biometric Capture for you, at a small fee? You call them like the way you request an Uber, they come and complete it and charge you for it. That’s another way of making revenue, and many corporate people would prefer to go to sit at the MTN office the whole day wasting productive hours.
3. There should be a registration Agent scattered all over, use the Mobile Money Vendors, the Fuel Stations, the Hospitals, the Shell and Total Supermarkets, etc as registration centers to disperse the congregations of mammoth crowds gathered daily at Telco Offices!
4. Segregate Data! Don’t paint everything with one brush, those who haven’t been given their cards by NIA should continue to enjoy the sim because it’s not their fault it isn’t registered!
5. Infact why do we even do this double capture? It’s a flawed design and lacks proper engineering.
If I provide my mobile number during NIA registration, it should be automatically linked. There is no need for the telcos to be doing this double data capture. The linking can be activated using a token sent to the mobile number.
Africa’s problem is Africans!
Source: BigGodwin Amartey
