Saturday, June 19, 2010

Sierra Leone - People in northern provinces are not aware of the SIM card registration programme

[concord times] Sensitization on the sim registration exercise seems not to have filtered down well to most people in the provinces as Concord Times investigations revealed that a good number of locals in towns like Makeni, Magburaka, Matotoka, Makali and Masingbi - all in the northern province - are yet to fully grasp what the exercise is all about.

Mohamed Conteh, a trader at Rogbaneh road in Makeni, said he does not know why he should register his sim card, as according to him, nobody has communicated to him about what he stands to benefit for registering his sim. "Why should I register my sim card? I really don't know the reason. I think all mobile companies know their subscribers, I am an Africell subscriber so let the company go through their list of customers and they will find my number there," he said.

According to Conteh, poor sensitization about the exercise is making people apprehensive to having their sim cards registered. "People need to be adequately sensitised on the importance of sim registration, especially in the rural areas. Otherwise people will be scared to go out and register their sims," he stressed.

Fatmata Kanu, a retired nurse in Magburaka, said one of her neighbours visited her last week and enquired to know what the registration of sim cards was all about. "I was in great doubt because I myself do not know now anything about the exercise. I think the people responsible for sim registration come down to the recent areas in the provinces to educate us about the development," Kanu said.

Abdul Turay, a driver at Masingbi in the Konika Sanda chiefdom said: "I cannot read or write, so how would I know whether a text message has been sent to me that I should register my sim? All I do with my phone is to make or receive calls."

Sierra Leone: Sim Registration a Problem in the North

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