National Congress suffers comms jam

TELECOMS

By Nana Appiah Acquaye, Accra, Ghana

Networks of the major telecommunication operators in Ghana were jammed for hours at the Special National Delegate Congress of the country’s ruling party, the National Democratic Congress NDC, this week. This development has not only put lots of constraints in the way of the organizers but has also made communications at the congress ground very difficult.

The coverage of the programme by the media was also put on hold for several hours as journalists struggled to get calls through to their colleagues or to connect using modems to enable live streaming of their programmes.  

Journalists told BiztechAfrica how frustrated they were that their MTN and Airtel internet modems were not working.  One of the organisers said efforts to get the Ashanti Regional operational team to rectify the problem had proved futile.

In spite of these challenges, the sale of call cards of the various network operators is booming as demand shoots up.

The Minister of Communications, Hon. Harruna Iddrissu, was present at the congress grounds,  but could not help the  situation bedeviling the free flow of communication.

Those fortunate enough to get connected have been making good use of social media to report on proceedings. This year, Ghana’s politicians are depending on social to get their messages across as they prepare for the country general election on 7 December.