By Kemo Cham
The hope of Diaspora Sierra Leoneans to take part in the country’s general elections expected in 2018 has been dashed by the introduction of the single registration system.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) said because they no longer have the mandate to register voters, it may no longer be possible to register Sierra Leoneans based outside the country.
The Public Elections Act 2012 mandates the NEC to make provisions for the registration of Sierra Leoneans based outside the country, if it has the resources – both financial and human resources. The electoral body had stated in its 2015-2019 Strategic Plan that it intended to conduct diaspora registration ahead of the next election.
But the enactment of the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) Act recently occasioned an obstacle to that. The Act empowers the NCRA to conduct all registration activities in the country and the NEC is expected to extract its voter register from the final document produced by the NCRA.
The NCRA Act, which has superseded the provisions in the Elections Act in relations to registration, however doesn’t specifically make any provision for Diaspora registration.
This, said William Ado Davies, Executive Secretary of the NEC, implied that it would no longer be possible for Diaspora registration to be conducted.
“Probably it should be an issue for further discussion,” he told journalists last week at the government’s weekly press conference.
Elija Koroma, Programme Manager of the NCRA, told Politico that the Authority was already looking at the issue, after been contacted by the Diaspora Office at the Office of the President. But he said suggestions of deploying men overseas to conduct registration would be untenable.
Koroma, who is also the Chief Technology Officer of the NCRA, said the Authority was considering creating a web application wherein Sierra Leoneans anywhere could log in and fill in their details.
“If they show up at any embassy with these details they can be issued with their cards,” he said on a telephone interview.
Koroma said conducting personal registration overseas will not only be expensive but also it’s near impossible given that not everyone will be able to reach the registration point.
He said if the NCRA is going to send a team it’s going to be more than one person. “Imagine if we are in Washington and someone has to travel from California to Washington to get registered! In fact not everybody in Washington will even be able to turn up,” he said.
“And think about what it will cost in terms of hotel bills and other cost for the officials.”
Koroma couldn’t say for sure though if there was any chance for Diaspora Sierra Leoneans wishing to take part in the forthcoming elections to do so from wherever they live. He said the NEC and the management of the NCRA would have to decide on that and that it would require close collaboration.
The urge to open up democratic participation has seen many countries adopt Diaspora voting. In Africa it is particularly common among former French colonies, like neighboring Guinea.
The NEC has always collaborated with the Guinean electoral body to help its citizens in the country vote in their general elections.
“We will also want to do the same if we have the necessary resources to enable us to do,” said Albert Massaquoi, Communications Director at the NEC. Like the NCRA’s Koroma, Massaquoi also said what happens depends on collaboration between the leadership of the two institutions.
© Politico 20/07/16
