Correspondence from Upper East Region

The MTN office in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region has, for the past few days, been flooded with aggrieved customers following the blockage of their sim cards despite registration.

According to them, they did not understand why their sim cards had been blocked despite going through the due process of registration.

Most of them noted that it was not the first time they were appearing there, as service providers persistently instructed them to go and come later, with the excuse that the network was bad.

Most of them were in a state of desperation, as they urgently needed to withdraw money via Mobile Money to take care of pressing needs.

They shared their plight with Ghanaweb's Upper East Regional Correspondent, Sarah Dubure.

Mr. Charles Adongo lamented that he went to the office at 3:00 am and they kept telling them to go and come back later.

He said they were constantly given the excuse that the network was down, a situation that was very frustrating to him.

"I came here around 3 am to unblock my sim. They kept telling us to go and come back because the network was bad. why? why?" he quizzed.

He said he was in an emergency situation as his child was on admission to the hospital, and he needed to withdraw some money via Mobile Money to buy drugs.

"My child has been admitted to the Regional Hospital. They prescribed some drugs for us to buy, but the money is not available. It is locked up in my phone, so l can't withdraw. I don't have any other source of money," he cried.

Madam Cynthia Akolgo also lamented that they had money in their accounts and yet, they were hungry. She added that the situation was unbearable.

"We have money in our Mobile Money but we cannot remove the money because they have blocked our sims. We are hungry but can't buy food because of the blockage," she cried.

She pointed out that most of them registered their sim cards right from the inception of the registration process, and wondered why they were still blocked.

"We don't understand these people. They said we should register and we did, and they blocked us after registration," she complained.

Madam Dorcas Atiah, who was with an infant, indicated that it had been a terrible experience as it was not her first time being there.

She said she came there on Saturday from 7:30am to 6:00pm and yet, she was not sorted out due to a network challenge.

"Just this Saturday, l came here in the morning at 7:30 am and stayed here till 6:00 pm. We weren't given seats to sit. The way the people around here are currently standing was the same way we stood. It is not easy, they should please have mercy on us," she pleaded.

She gave the sad story of a woman who came there to unblock her sim card in order to be able to withdraw some money via Mobile Money to pay the hospital bills of her husband.

She observed that the woman left in a pathetic state, as they were not able to activate her sim to enable her withdraw the money.

"A woman came here to activate her sim. Her husband was admitted to the hospital and her children sent her money through Mobile Money to withdraw and pay the bills, but she wasn't able to do that due to the sim situation. It was a pity," she recounted.