By Henry Kargbo

Dr Richard Konteh, D Unifier of the All Peoples Congress (APC) party has expressed fair that “Sierra Leone’s democracy is under threat” and they as a Consortium of Progressive Political Parties have the responsibility of standing against such an act.

Konteh made this statement on Friday 16 September 2022 while the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (CoPPP) engages the media on the first phase of the voter registration process in Sierra Leone, at the Kings Palace Hall, Wellington Street, Freetown.

He told participants at the function that as representatives of different political parties they also have a great responsibility to ensure that nobody undermines the country’s democracy.

Dr Konteh stated that the ongoing voter registration (VR) “is not credible, free, fair and never transparent and this is currently undermining democracy in Sierra Leone”.

He said that “ECSL staff are not properly trained”, adding that the centres are also operating faulty machines as well as the software in use.

“This process is going to prevent first-time voters and others not to participate in the June 2023 general elections,” he said.

Interim Secretary General for the APC Interim Transition Governance Committee, Hon. Abdul Kargbo, said he was very happy about the theme: “No eligible voter should be left behind”, adding that parliament is the supreme legislative authority to make laws in Sierra Leone.

He said that before the commencement of the voter registration, parliament had enacted the National Public Election Bill Act 2022 “and it is clearly stated that if you have reached the age of 18, a Sierra Leonean by nationality and a person of sound mind with a birth certificate and other authentic documents and testimony of a member of a local council, you are eligible to be registered.

He said that he has been receiving several complaints from different people as well as his constituency saying that the ECSL is undermining the election laws being made by parliament and if ECSL wants to regulate such Act, they should go back in parliament for amendment.

“This issue has undermined the country’s democracy and there has never been an election in Sierra Leone that has deprived people to register,” he said.

He calls on the government and ECSL to allow people to register to enable them vote for the 2023 general elections.

Chairperson of the Consortium, Madam Femi Claudius Cole, said COPPP would like to commend the extraordinary enthusiasm demonstrated, efforts and sacrifices made so far by citizens all over the country to register to vote in the forthcoming general elections.

“We do acknowledge and respect the commitment of the ECSL in setting up the necessary structures for voter registration across the country,” she said.

She added that their parties have been monitoring the conduct of the registration and “we have some serious concerns over some aspects of the exercise and we would like ECSL and other related bodies to act promptly on these issues as we advance into Phase ll of the process”.

Madam Cole continued that for the first-time voters, Section 24(1) of the 2022 Public Elections Act clearly states that: a Registration Officer may, in satisfying himself that a person is entailed to be registered as a voter, request from the person any of the following”: A birth certificate or other such documents issued under the authority of an enactment, a naturalization certificate, testimony of member of the Local council in the area of his residence, a national identification number, a statutory declaration giving particulars of a person’s birth and any other satisfactory evidence of the person’s entitlement to be registered as voter.

According to her, the ECSL has now decided that only original birth certificates would now be accepted at ECSL registration centres because of some issues relating to fraudulent registrants, fake birth certificates and potentially unreliable verifications.

Madam Cole expressed concern that because ECSL has restricted many of the first-voters; it therefore has prevented thousands of eligible Sierra Leone from registering in the ongoing VR process, which had “undermined the credibility and transparency of a free and fair registration”.