By Alpha Abu
The Voter Register will be made available to political parties- Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mohamed K. Konneh told an Election Preparedness Stakeholders Conference at the Brookfields Hotel in Freetown, yesterday.
Konneh however explained to the well-attended conference organized by IDEA International that only the names of the voters will be made available and will omit their addresses and other personal details to protect their privacy. He said after the polls they will have to evaluate whether to have a permanent voter register.
He also stated that the contract for the printing of the Ballot Papers was awarded to a South African Company after a bid that was supervised by the National Public Procurement Agency (NPPA). He said it’s the same company that printed the ballot papers for the 2012 and 2018 elections and assured the papers will arrive in Sierra Leone ahead of time.
The ECSL boss said the commission will maintain the regional tallying Centre and that they intend to expedite the process and ensure quality. He said there’s a Contingency Budget should there be a need for a Run-Off. He reasserted the commission’s commitment to conduct credible elections this June.
Also, ECSL updated the public on the electoral measures they’ve undertaken in relation to the Training of personnel, electoral education, their operational systems, media engagements, and external relations.
The Chairman of the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC), Abdulai Masiambay Bangura in his statement, acknowledged the emotive nature of elections but accused politicians of contributing to making the atmosphere ‘’toxic’’.
He spoke about the staff of PPRC trying to cope with the animosity and profiling directed against them in this electioneering period, as they go about their work.
Bangura said some politicians are engaged in tribal slurs and other forms of hate messaging and urged that they be temperate in what they say and orderly in what they and their followers do.
He said they’ve been monitoring the campaign trail after calling parties to a conference in which they jointly agreed on the mode of reaching out to voters, and admitted that so far, the conduct of party supporters is not what they will like to see, but said it’s somehow appreciable.
Bangura said it behooves all of us as a nation to work together for peace and stability to reign in the country.
National Security Coordinator, Abdulai Caulker in his address explained the tremendous strides made by the sector to ensure voters go out to exercise their franchise on polling day.
He said people should dismiss what he called deceptive rumours and told the conference how the security sector has employed mechanisms to counter such negativities, and mentioned the establishment of a Situation Room that has been activated with Toll-Free Line119 to present the public with credible information.
Keynote Speaker and former Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Cameroon, Dr.Fonkam Azu’u praised Sierra Leone for conducting elections that have seen the smooth transfer of power twice. He also lauded the initiative by the Government of Sierra Leone to fund the elections almost singlehandedly instead of relying on external support.
Moderators of the event were BBC Correspondent Umaru Fofana and two other Journalists, Yeama Thompson, and Amadu Lamrana Bah.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (07/06/23)
