Two blind people Alie Conteh and Thaimu Dedimus Kargbo have been rejected by NEC officials to be registered at Ward 391 in Collegiate school compound.
At about 12am Wednesday 1st February the two blind men arrived at the center to go through the normal registration. On reaching the registration desk, they were told by the NEC assistant registrar that they should wait for some time.
After waiting for over ten minutes Alie and Thaimu decided to check with the NEC official as to why they have not been allowed to start being registered. They were then told by one of the NEC officials at the center that they will not be allowed to register at the Ward and they should go and wait until the biometric machine gets to Ronsab school.
One of the blind men Alie Conteh told the NEC official that ever since they can remember they have been registering and voting in that Ward “therefore I don’t see any reason why I should not be allowed to register here.” The two blind men spent the next thirty minutes trying to convince the NEC officials that they should be registered at that center but they adamantly refused.
In frustration the blind men had to leave without being registered.
When asked about how he felt after the frustrating experience one of the blind men Alie Conteh said that “the biometric process is good as it will prevent double voting. But with some of the lapses we are experiencing it is not good for the general population. Most of the people employed by NEC to carry out the registration process do not seem to know what they are doing. The use of the computer is very difficult for them thereby making the process very slow. We have visited some other centers and (this is what) we have discovered.”
He added that they are concerned about how the process of enrolling the staff for the registration process was done “as it seems as if the people are not well trained about the issue. I am in support about the concern raised by (the) NDA spokesman that the registration process be put on hold until some of these anomalies are corrected.”
Dedimus Kargbo (the other blind voter) for his part maintained that “the Chairperson of NEC has said that whenever pregnant women, disabled and the blind are present at any center they should be given preferential treatment, and we have been told that wherever we want to register we should do that as long as we are going to vote at that center. But the people vehemently refused even though we have always been voting at that center. So I wonder if (we are) getting such treatment in Freetown, I’m wondering what will happen in the provinces. “
The Assistant Registrar at the center Victoria Bull confirmed that indeed the two blind guys should wait for the machine to get to Metro or Ronsab where they could be registered “as you can see there are a lot of people in this Ward to be registered. Even if NEC said people should register where they choose we at the center we will advise (them) to wait (or) to go to another Ward.”
By Betty Milton
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