By Mohamed Foday Conteh
It was 5 in the morning and we found our way through the moonless morning dew. As we moved closer from Thomas Avenue towards Cape Road, the staccato of steps from other people made an incessant clatter to which my attention was drawn to in split seconds. It was my notion that if I get up early, I would be able to do my NCRA registration as earliest as possible since I had with me my ID card and hence needed only to verify my information. I was with two ladies –one in her twenties; the other in her mid-thirties.
My expectations were watered down when I arrived at the Aberdeen Police Station, an NCRA registration site. A gargantuan crowd stood in an almost queue like manner. I greeted the lady that stood next to me as the cries from the minaret of the nearby mosque sounded the call to prayer. I sarcastically told her to stand her ground for me in case another person comes after me for I had wanted to read my prayers.
The capacity at the mosque was quarter filled much to my awe since I was a regular there. I deduced that many from the congregation had a similar mission to mine –to register. I confirmed that I was right when I learnt that one of the attendees that morning was from Kissy and that he came here to register since he had been living at Aberdeen.
After the end of the prayers, I headed for the centre again. This time I met a larger crowd than the one I had left behind. It was also during this time that I learnt that I was actually the 150th person in the queue. I stood in the queue, sandwiched by a sea of eyes on both to my front and back.
As the sun was beginning to turn from red to white, tempers began to flare up. The reason being that there were people who had been there the previous day for the process the whole day but were unable to complete it due to technical issues and were asked to come the next day to complete it and who at the same time met a long queue. The commotion had started when they were told by those in the queue and the police officers that they will not be allowed to register until they join the almost 250 person’s queue.
As I stood looking confused, someone hissed at me. When I tilted my head in that direction, I saw a man, late thirties, who beckoned at me to lean forward towards him. The man told me that he is number 1 and that he had been called to attend an urgent gathering. He requested that I should give Le 5,000 to take his place. In as much as I had not wanted to do it and the fact that my legs were almost numb and because the process is extremely important, altogether prodded me to give in.
It was worth mentioning at this point that although I was the number 1 person, it took me more than 3 hours before I could get my verification done. The reason for this was simply because the pending registrants have not been given assurance that they will be prioritized on that day. So, the whole process was disrupted. The supervisor fearing for the angry registrant not to damage the equipment, ordered that the process is halted and that all equipment be bagged.
After almost half an hour, the commotion was ameliorated. A man and his two children were the first ushered into the room. That man, I learnt, spent the night at the registration center. A woman also proposed to spend the night there but she could not much to the behest of the police officers.
Although I got up early and at almost half the time I spent there as the number 1 person, it took me more than 4 hours before I was verified. In fact, some people that got up as early as or perhaps earlier than me were unable to verify or register on that day.
It is irrefutable for one to presume at this point that there are still challenges although the NCRA has spent considerable time and effort to be proactive and to ensure they avoid possible issues. In starker terms, the NCRA, at one point in time had to increase the time span of the verification and registration process after pleas from political parties and civil society organizations. In fact, some civil society organizations like the National Electoral Watch (NEW), Center for Accountability, the Rule of Law (CARL) and the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) and the United States Embassy in Freetown are key partners and observers of the exercise.
The Director-General of the NCRA, Mohamed Massaquoi, acceded to the fact that there are challenges in the process especially with regards to child registration. The problem with the child registration is that there is no existing data for children and this in turn makes the process cumbersome for the registrars.
The NCRA incorporates the help of security personnels like the Police, RSLAF and ONS. However, issues relating to security like crowd management is still glaring. In the exercise as of the over 10,000 employed, queue managers or controllers were not part of the team. Even when over 250 staff from the provinces were called upon to assist the region’s already 2,000 staff, the process still had it challenges as there are still a sizeable number of people that have failed to register.
As the registration and verification exercise winded down on the 22nd May 2021 in Western Area and with North next in line, the challenges that were present in the western region should be ameliorated; and prudent measures should be put in place to ensure that the necessary data needed is captured.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online
