By Nasratu Kargbo
The National Secretary-General of the All Peoples Congress (APC) Lansana Dumbuya has called on the Electoral Commission Sierra Leone (ECSL) to redo the voter Identity Cards. He made this call on the 11th of May 2023 at their party office in Freetown.
Dumbuya stated that the faces on the ID cards are smudged and that one can be hardly recognized, he said.
“They have to redo those cards, which is all we are asking. I think it is a fair request for them to redo the cards and make sure that the photos are clear for those at the polling stations to be able to identify the people,” he said.
He said some cards are dark, others in black and white and some photo-less, noting that millions of dollars went into making the cards.
He stated that if they can do the ID in one week, they should use the same time to regularize them, stating that there are institutions in the country that can print quality ID cards.
The Secretary-General explained that one can take another person’s card and attempt to vote, adding that thousands of cards were not collected by registrants and that could be distributed to any person to go and vote without them being detected because the faces cannot be clear or seen.
Giving another reason why the cards should be redone, he added that if one cannot recognize oneself on their ID cards, the officers at the voting centres might refuse to allow people to exercise their voting rights, just because they cannot be clearly recognised.
“That is why they have done that, so that people will be refused on polling day, and we are not going to allow that. We have put the government on notice, we have put the ECSL on notice; that thing can be corrected in one week” said the Secretary-General.
He said they have given ECSL the opportunity to regularize the situation.
The Secretary-General said that they had asked the ECSL for disaggregated register in order to be informed on the number of persons that are registered per ward and other information but claimed the ECSL boss Mohamed Konneh has refused to give it to them.
Dumbuya raised other issues, claiming acid was thrown at their supporters in Pujehun, whilst others were taken to Bo and detained, stating that those who threw the acid at their supporters were not arrested.
He said one of their aspirants and her family were chased away from Pujehun.
Lanssana said: “These are recipes for a disruptive election. Institutions are crying for peace on Election Day, but they are not looking at the root cause. No one has said anything about the ID”. He said peace cannot be attained in one day, stressing that it is a gradual process.
Speaking to Politico, Raymond George, a member of ECSL’s internal communication emphasized points earlier made by the ECSL Chief Mohamed K. Konneh who had acknowledged the irregularities but said it will not affect the election in anyway, stating that an individual can vote with or without their voter’s ID card. He said that they have the records and details to ascertain whether or not the individual is registered.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (12/05/23)
