The Minister of Information and Communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo has called on the people of the Southern Region to fully participate in the voter registration exercise in order to make them eligible to vote in the forthcoming elections.
He made this call at the launching of the voter registration exercise at the Bo City Council Hall on 21st January 2012.
He said the people have the right to exercise their franchise in electing the leaders of their choice but they can only be sure of exercising that right when they are fully registered for the elections with the National Electoral Commission. The Minister encouraged everyone that has attained the age of 18 to register.
Minister Kargbo told the people that the stability of a country depends on whether the people are given the opportunity to take part in an election where they can vote for those they want to lead them in a free and fair manner and without fear or favour.
He admonished the people of the south to take advantage of this opportunity and exercise their franchise wisely and vote for a leader that is development oriented.
Commenting on the biometric system of registration, the Minister said the system is introduced in an attempt to prevent double registration so that people will not have the opportunity to vote more than once, adding that the system has a sophisticated device that can distinguish a person from his/her identical twin partner.
He assured his audience that people will not find the process difficult even though the system is being used for the first time in the country.
I.B. Kargbo said it is their duty as a government to encourage every Sierra Leonean, no matter where he or she belongs, to register and vote for the candidate of their choice.
He cautioned his audience to be very careful while they vote for the leaders of their choice informing them that they will have to vote for four candidates for four different positions on the same polling day advising them to register at the town or village where they can find it comfortable to vote when the day comes.
The Minister stated that election is a civilized way of admitting people to leadership positions and encouraged the youth to refrain from all forms of violence noting that the government has given the NEC total independence in order to conduct a free, fair, transparent and credible election.
He said traditional leaders also have an important role to play by identifying people in their town or villages as citizens and also to encourage them to take part in the process.
By Alhaji Kamara
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