By George M.O. Williams
The Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki – Sawyerr has addressed a letter to the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh raising concerns over complaints by some first – time voters that they are not being allowed to register in spite of the fact that members of their local councils have come forward to testify on their eligibility.
Mayor Aki – Sawyerr emphasized that the aforementioned disregards the provision of section 24 (1) paragraph e) of the 2022 Public Election Act which states that; “For being satisfied as to the claim of a person to be registered as a voter, a Registration Officer may request from the person applying to be registered … The testimony of a member of the Local Council in the area of his residence.
Additionally, Mayor Aki- Sawyerr said that Sierra Leone’s 1991 Constitution does not require citizens to be in the database of National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) in order for them to be eligible to vote.
She claimed that above all those provision runs contrary to the current registration process operating guidelines by ECSL, which is evident that first – time voter only be registered only if they are in the database of the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), according to the Mayor; “This would appear to be because a citizen must first be entered into the NCRA database (using the VIU machine) before they can be verified by ECSL and entered into the ECSL database (using the VVK machine).”
Notwithstanding the aforementioned, she further explained that hundreds of first-time voters were also told that they must produce birth certificates even though the ECSL Procedure Manual makes provision for verification by a local stakeholder.
According to the Mayor of Freetown, in a meeting held with the Western Area Commissioner Zainab Moseray the commissioner explained that ECSL had experienced fraudulent registrants, fake birth certificates and potentially unreliable verifications.
“The Western Area Commissioner further advised that as a result of these challenges, ECSL is no longer accepting any Witness Forms as a basis of the entry of potential registrants into the VIU machine (the NCRA database). Commissioner Moseray stated that only original birth certificates will now be accepted at ECSL registration centers,” Mayor Aki – Sawyerr said.
The Mayor indicated that the decision by ECSL to only accept birth certificates when they are aware that according to the World Bank Completeness of Birth Registrations’, in 2005 (the year of birth for those turning 18 in 2023) only 48% of births in Sierra Leone were registered, is problematic.
She alluded that there will always be challenges with any system, but the response to those challenges must not be to inadvertently disenfranchise thousands of potential first-time voters who are not in the NCRA database and who do not have birth certificates.
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