By Alieu Amara Suwu
Mohamed K. Konneh, Chief Electoral Commissioner has on Wednesday, 7th September 2022 updated journalists on a number of issues recorded from the ongoing voter registration in Sierra Leone.
Among the issues the Commissioner mentioned, he revealed that 415,465 voters, based on reports from 65 % centers out of 1,815 opened centres, have been registered.
Going forward, Commissioner Konneh said, notwithstanding that some centers opened after 7am mostly due to poor road network and challenges in distributing registration materials, about 95% of all centers nationwide opened on 3 September 2022 and that sufficient materials were supplied to all Voter Registration Centers.
He said staffs in the field are having challenges to register first-time voters. This he said is a technical issue which has to do with the Voter Verification software but that has been resolved.
He also updated that during the first two-days, the attention of the Commission was drawn to the issue power supply to the VVKs and VIUs. However, said significant improvement has been done in that regard in receiving solar panels to charge the batteries and distribution of those panels is ongoing. Furthermore, he said they have made provision for generators in remote areas for charging of the power batteries and equipment.
Commissioner Konneh strongly uttered that their (Commission) has been notified of attempts by some people to facilitate the registration of underage people. On this he reminded the general citizens that it is a crime punishable by law and this, the Commission has the means to identify culprits and such persons will be prosecuted.
He said the ECSL Situation Room has been active receiving calls from all over the country on the short code 838.
