Over the weekend, Social media, especially Facebook in Ghana was ‘lit’. There were two incidents that caught my attention. One was a constructive criticism about a radio show, met with cynicism and anger, while the other was a disclaimer, which was greeted with counter disclaimers and accusations.
I won’t bore you with details of the childish and errant reaction that greeted a regular Facebook user, who rightly questioned what has become of the once adored award-winning show, the ‘Weekend City Show’ on Joy 99.7fm. Clearly the state of the show now is a pale shadow of itself former glorious self. Gone are the days when even after a long night out on Fridays, I would set an alarm to wake up early to listen to intelligent wit & humour from Rami Baiti, Ato Kwamena Dadzie, Anny Osabutey and later, Rudy Kwakye. Instead of taking the assessment of the current state of the programme as good feedback, handlers of the show, with support from a few misguided praise singers online, took to Facebook to attack and malign their critics.
The path of self destruction they have chosen is not even the focus of my piece today. I am going to center on the ‘who the cap fits’ controversy, that followed a seemingly innocuous disclaimer, issued by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). The Company noted that some individuals and groups were advertising mobile platforms through which customers of the Company could purchase pre-paid credits, without hassle or physically visiting the vending station, and distanced itself from such entities and their products.
Though the statement did not directly name anyone or group, Facebook users fit the cap squarley on “Ghana’s biggest Tech Entrepreneur – Kane Mani” and trolled him for wanting to use ‘the backdoor’ to promote his business. Well, the CEO of Origgin – developers of the App, rightly responded, explaining that contrary to claims in ECG’s disclaimer, he had not stated anywhere that his App was developed with support from ECG. He has subsequently issued another statement and promised to follow up with a video, ostensibly to call the bluff of ECG and announce that the earlier advertised development and release of his Mobile App. will continue unabated.
But is there really the need for a mobile prepaid App to relieve customers from the burden of joining long queues or sleeping in darkness because their credits ran out in the middle of the night? If there is the need for such a solution, who best should spearhead it; the ECG or a ‘random’ tech savvy individual? Lastly, why will the Electricity Company of Ghana bother to distance itself from such an initiative if indeed it has its customers at heart and the App promises to make life easy for such customers?
In this modern era where everything; from finding a partner, conceiving a baby, to participating in global meetings could be easily achieved without being physically present, one would obviously have to agree that it is not only archaic but quite ancient, to still have to join long winding queues, just to reload credits. Even worse is sleeping in darkness because the credits ran out late at night. This must change and the ECG is best placed to spearhead such revolution. It could be in partnership with others, but certainly the status quo cannot continue for long!!!.
From their public statements and posturing, it is clear that the Origgin Company and its CEO clearly do not understand the prepaid environment in Ghana, and they have not bothered to educate themselves enough on what the potential bottlenecks of advertising a product, ‘conceived in a silo and still in labour’, could be. To use technology to make life simple for electricity customers in Ghana is innovative but certainly not nouvelle. The Origgin App will basically interface with accredited vendors to service requests by paid up customers; something accredited Vendors could also do using the Mobile Money service.
Per what’s available now, should the App be launched, only few customers can benefit from it. These are those who use meters, which do not require a smart card to make purchases. Meaning, the majority of ECG customers who are required to physically present a card at a vending station to make purchases cannot use the App. This shortfall is not acknowledged or mentioned anywhere in the many recorded videos, circulating online; promoting Origgin’s solution to customers’ prepaid purchasing challenges. It can very easily be an avenue for fraud, since without enough sensitization that the App cannot function for all types of prepaid meters, many of ECG’s customers may use the App and neither get the credits nor a refund. This will obviously present a crisis to the ECG, which will have to resolve a headache it played no role in generating.
The good news however is that the ECG in its ‘disclaimer’ announced that its Engineers are developing an App whose advantages far outweigh the half-hearted attempt by unauthorized ‘techies’. With the ECG app, prepaid customers can make purchases 24hrs a day, and service is rendered in minutes. Imagine if the accredited vendors Origgin works with are unavailable at the moment you make a request, it could take hours if not days for you to be served. Also, with the ECG app, prepaid customers get the exact value of their purchases, no extra charges, and customers can track the history of their purchases. Post paid customers can even pay their bills through this app.
As for me and my friends, no matter how long it takes, we will comfortably wait to use such an app. from the ‘devil’ We know (ECG), than use one from the staples of the “waakye locator App.”, which cannot even tell us which waakye seller’s shito is hot.
Author: pasinoman
Twitter: @pasinoman
Email: pasifred@gmail.com
THOUGHTS IN TOTS 