Boycotting mobile phone networks in Ghana?

A Press and Media release dates January 13, 2022, signed by some notable people in Ghana including Franklin Cudjoe of IMANI and Law Prof. Raymond Atuguba and other prominent persons came to my attention today February 5 on a different forum that has nothing to do with politics but actually Automobiles!

The palava and talk about the current Ghana Government having squandered so much money and borrowed some estimated 70-80% of the nation's GDP, more than the rest of all previous government in the post-Independence era, should not go unnoticed!!

In recent years it appears the way for massive financial gain by politicians in power has been forcing all adults in the estimated 32 million inhabitants of Ghana to undergo some forced exercises!

The idea of demanding and hence forcing people to be in long lines for hours in the tropical sun in this COVID-19 Pandemic era to re-register SIM cards simply seems awkward and implies an absolute lack of human empathy.

It occurred to me how totally ill-advised and unplanned this re-registration exercise was. However, not being in Ghana I did not want to comment. I am glad some of my junior friends have taken the lead to stand up against the oppressive government policies often done without consideration of peoples’ welfare!

It is absolutely the biggest insult on customers forcing them to be in line again, all across Ghana, to provide their fingerprint when common logic fails. If it’s the ID number the Telcos need, why not create a simple website allowing cell phone customers to enter and add their GhanaCard number? Does that not make more sense? Or people cannot be trusted with their own cell phone numbers?

Some policies make no sense save possibly somebody stands to gain from the suffering of others. Corporations and Governments should respect peoples’ time and welfare, especially in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ghana has been pretending to be a democratic nation while behaving like a Communist Nation, forcing people to do this, and then change and do something else every few years!

We have had massive money wasted on things like
- VOTER REGISTRATION, then a few years later
- BIOMETRIC VOTER REGISTRATION. Then this
- GHANA CARD

Each of these demanded more than 10 million adults in Ghana to line up for hours in the sun like sebe sebe sheep or goats lined up for the slaughter! (I beg oo!).

Today in Ghana nobody can renew a Passport without being present to show “Biometric data”.

Why?

If this Biometric data was that critical in managing our lives in the modern-day how come people in California where most of these high technology changes emanate, and the rest of America, are not jumping up and down about using Biometric data to do everything as Ghanaians are being told to do and be part of the digital age! Our people are being dragged like sebe sebe sheep and goats! (I beg oo! Just an illustration). If it’s about crimes, can Ghana claim to have more crimes than America? To demand changing IDs every few years?

Ghanaians in power must learn to have human empathy and respect for their people or else we all can predict doom! I can never forget the day I, at the age of 71 at the time, had to stand in line for 4 hours and stand waiting with no place to sit down, with my Assistant and a Medical Doctor friend of MP Atta Akyea, to see the Minister on some Housing issues that I had some expertise and business plan.

We waited for me to make a presentation to him, but he was not interested! His sign of disrespect telling his friend to get me out of his office never left my mind. Never again! I said to myself! Never will I accept such humiliation from another human being!

Our beloved Ghana is suffering indeed due to the arrogance and greed of a few who came to power by the gun and later those who win power through seductive pretenses and later turn out to be nothing short of arrogant and pompous public thieves! If I am wrong, why are the Auditor General’s reports never followed up and people prosecuted? What happened to the 57,000 Ghost names on the public payroll?

It is time we cut out the pretense for technology leapfrogging. Point is that the technology of fingerprinting is not 100% guaranteed of a crime-free nation. No! And even if it was, there is no guarantee it will dominate the next 100 years! In fact, some studies have suggested blacks have a higher error rate in Facial recognition technology. So do these Economists claim to know more than some of our colleagues who live with these every day? Why pay $100 million for this?

What problems are we solving demanding that I Kwaku A. Danso at the age of 75, renewing my Ghana Passport cannot send a new picture and the fees and updated address if any, and have to be in a long line for 4 hours to do this? I did renew the passport of my adopted home country, the USA, last year; and it took not more than 45 minutes and a trip to the post office with my pictures and the fees.

Old age surely teaches lessons and sometimes it appears to me Ghanaians educated in Western Economics and Accounting and even Computer Sciences think they know so much they forget the humans they are working for! No! Some do this for personal gain simply buying some Israeli or Chinese technology for $50 million and adding another $50 million to put in their personal or Party funds! That is the opinion of most Ghanaians if anybody cares to survey.

Yes! Our educated people in power seem to have become crooks and scam artists and public thieves! It is a disgrace indeed asking people to change their identity every few years so a few can take contracts and can scheme to earn millions of dollars! THIEVES! That’s what they are!!

And please I’d be glad to debate any of our colleagues and juniors in Government about the right and ethical ways of societal management and leadership.

In conclusion- I say Boycotting mobile phone usage is a very drastic and desperate measure and demonstration! However, I feel the pain of our colleagues on the ground in Ghana.

For the rest of my life on this earth, I wish common sense and decency will reign in our country. I pray Nana Akufo Addo and his NPP Parliament will not place impediment on the move to amend the 1992 Constitution and decentralize the one-man powers as a defect in that 1992 document! Our democratic constitution is not perfect enough until we amend it.

God bless our motherland Ghana!