By Nasratu Kargbo
Members of the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party and the National Grand Coalition (NGC) have during their debate on a bill entitled Public Elections Act 2022 condemned Clause (13) of the proposed bill which makes the National Identification Number (NIN) a requirement for citizens to be registered.
“No law in our constitution says you must have a NIN number before you are registered,” said Parliamentarian Abdul Kargbo from Port Loko. According to the MP, the database of the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) has only 1.5 million people registered with them, in a country that has a population of over 7 million people. He emphasized that having the NIN as a requirement will deprive over 5 million people of participating in the voting exercise.
Kargbo said he heard a representative from the Electoral Commission explain that there will be two queues, one for NIN numbers and the other for registration. He stated that many people did not register with NCRA because they were impatient to wait in queues. He said with two queues for registration, people will be discouraged from registering for the elections.
Kargbo explained that section (31) of the constitution provides criteria for one to be registered in order for them to be eligible voters and that the NIN is not part of them. Therefore, if the NIN is to be introduced as a criterion, it will be contravening the constitution, he argued.
He described the act of introducing a law that is at variance with the constitution without going through the right procedure as a “treasonable” act.
Alpha Amadu Bah from Constituency 115 made mention of Clause (13) (a) (i) of the proposed bill which speaks on the register of voters “there shall be a national register of voters, to be known as “Register of voters” which shall contain- (a) the names and particulars of persons who are entitled to vote in the public elections and referenda, including their-(i) National Identification Number”.
According to the MP, the clause contravenes section 31 of the 1991 constitution which does not require a NIN for one to be qualified to be registered in order to vote.
“Every citizen of Sierra Leone being eighteen years of age and above and of sound mind shall have the right to vote, and accordingly shall be entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda” section 31 of the 1991states.
“All we are saying is since that provision seeks to alter or amend the section, there must be a constitutional instrument seeking two third of this parliament”, said Bah, and described discussions about NIN as a “non-starter”.
The MP recalled that in his previous debate, he had raised the need for another constitutional instrument to take care of the other areas.
Bah called on the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mohamed Lamin Tarawalley to bring a constitutional instrument for the amendment of those sections that will be affected.
Acting Leader of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) Foday Mario Kamara said: “Let’s do away with this NIN, it is not good for this country”. He believed the process will disenfranchise some citizens.
He said Sierra Leoneans are used to being registered without presenting documents and that stakeholders such as town chiefs and village headmen in the communities are usually around to identify people.
He said having a NIN as a requirement is dangerous and claimed if the government was not capable of providing its citizens with ID cards, introducing NIN will complicate things.
On the contrary an MP from the government bench representing Constituency 132 in the Western Area, Ibrahim Tawa Conteh dismissed Kargbo’s estimates, stating that the NCRA database has over 6 million registered citizens.
He highlighted parts of the NCRA Act that stated the need and importance of the NIN. He said the NIN proposed in the bill does not violate section (31) of the constitution, and insisted that the NCRA Act is legal and that it has been given the mandate to register citizens. Conteh, therefore, argued that including NIN in the voter’s register was by no means contravening the constitution.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (18/07/22)
