BY: Hassan Alimamy Kamara
The director of Media and Communication at the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) Raymond George, has confirmed that in the just concluded exhibition exercise by ECSL which is to give opportunity for registrants to confirm, correct, and include their details in the registration list or even object people’s registration, has only forty one percent (41) turnout. With such a poor participation as per the percentage given, nevertheless, Mr George said he is not surprised that it is not a new phenomenon for people to get themselves absent from such. He added that it has been a routine practice for people not to participate in a larger percentage when it comes to an exercise of such nature. Citing the 2007 and 2018 as case studies of what happened in the just concluded exhibition exercise.
Mr George furthered that all 3, 630 registration centers were opened for the exhibition exercise across the country; and that 447 ward coordinators were recruited. He made this statement on Thursday in the weekly national press briefing at the Ministry of Information and Communications, Youyi Building Freetown. He also said 447 inquiry officers were employed to do the inquiry process. Explaining the number of new registrants captured in the registration process, he mentioned that 531, 758 of them registered, but said 50, 000 of that figure without photos against their details. However, he said it is a concern that can be treated in time; and that in the extreme of this issue, they can still be entitled to vote as long as their names are captured in the voter’s registration list.
During the exhibition period, Mr George said a total of 75 appeal cases were recorded for those rejected to register in the registration period, but confirmed that only four of those cases were upheld and the 71 dismissed. He continued that all of the appeal cases came from the Western region. For those who could not do their verification exercise, he said the ECSL had three platform launched with regard that. Among the platforms he said the web portal and mobile App platforms which he said can only be accessed through internet connectivity; the SMS platform which he said for those without android phones. He explained further that they recorded what he considered as post- exhibition issues. In this he stated that those whose names were omitted from the provisional voter’s list, which he said are things not strange to them any longer; incomplete data in some centers and the ones having to do with photo less registration details.
