The National Civic Registration Authority (NCRA) has engaged data collecting stakeholders and institutions on conflicting and overlapping legislations and gaps in the 2016 NCRA Act and their stage in the process to amend it in the interest of citizens and other residents.
The process brought together players from the Office of the Administrator and Registrar General, Statistics Sierra Leone, the National Electoral Commission, Civil Society, Births and Deaths departments, and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. They were all presented with the current NCRA Act, pointing out the conflicting aspect with other institutions in the data collection process, and a friendly discussion on working as a team going forward.
Presenting the conflicting and overlapping legislations and gaps in the 2016 Act, consultant lawyer Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai informed that the legislation was enacted with no foundation on integrated registration.
“Four years after, we are here looking at it to upgrade it into a standard that will stand the test of time and will as well be in line with other international laws.”
Abdulai said that though the Law Officers Department is presently drafting an amendment to the 2016 NCRA Act, Sections 27, 33, 34, and 61, among other provisions, are in conflict with a lot of institutions that record people’s data and information, especially the Office of the Registrar General on marriages, the Births and Deaths Department, Vital Statistics for NEC and Statistics Sierra Leone.
The lawyer reminded stakeholders that NCRA undertakes continuous data information of everyone in the country, which among other reasons is why they are referred to as the custodian of all data in the country.
He said there is a duplication of functions in the said Act, avoiding which calls for all institutions holding or receiving information from members of the public sharing that information with NCRA because, as per law, it is in the purview of the NCRA to collate all information on record and keep them for national and international use.
Representatives from the said institutions expressed their appreciation to the NCRA for engaging them on the Act hence pledged to jointly collaborate on data collection and information sharing, as the collaboration would lead to training and deployment of more staff across the country charged with the responsibility of collecting information and sharing them with NCRA.
It was made clear at the meeting that while it is compulsory to register residents with the NCRA, registration for elections with the NEC is a choice, and not compulsory.
NCRA Director General Mohamed Massaquoi acknowledged that for a while now, communication has been an issue in the deliberation and implementation of key activities between them and other institutions.
He said they have been focused on addressing voter registration in the country especially on saving tax payers’ money from registering mass voters every five years, into registering only those that are of voting age within the past four years.
Massaquoi said government will waste money and time conducting mass voter registration, but noted that with NCRA as a hub possessing integrated data on all citizens from birth, they are in the position to do said savings in money and time.
He revealed that the CRVS system has put the country ahead of other countries in terms of systems and structure, and called on the institutions to work toward having an integrated hub with a working system.
By Mohamed Kabba