The new Civil Registration Public Notice supersedes the previous one – NCRA DG assures Parliament

Politics

Addressing Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Public Notice issued on the 20th February 2020 by the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), the Director General Mohamed Massaquoi has said that the new Public Notice dated 3rd March 2020 supersedes the previous one. He made this disclosure on Thursday 5th March 2020 at the Committee room one while responding to the invitation sent to him by Parliament based on a submission made by Hon. Mark Mahmoud Kalokoh. Hon. Kalokoh on the 28th February 2020 in Parliament drew the attention of Parliament to Section 33 of the Sierra Leone 1991 Constitution that gives the sole responsibility for elections registration to the National Electoral Commission. According to Hon. Kalokoh, the second paragraph of the Public Notice issued by NCRA on the 20th February 2020, stated that only those whose details are in the Permanent Civil Register will be eligible to obtain Biometric National Identity Cards and to vote in public elections starting with the Local Council Elections in 2022. This he maintained clearly undermines the true spirit, intention and integrity of Section 33 of the Sierra Leone 1991 Constitution that gives NEC the power to conduct voters’ registration and conduct public elections. In response, the NCRA Director General read out their new Public Notice which clearly omitted the portion that contains the statement contested by Hon. Kalokoh and other members of Parliament, maintaining the NCRA’s sole responsibility is for the Civil Registration while the National Electoral Commission handles the Voters register. He however assured Parliament that he is aware of the provisions of Section 33 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone that gives NEC the power to register voters for public elections, while Section 15 subsection 1 D &E of the NCRA Act of 2016 gives the Authority the power to maintain the Civil Register. According to him the data and statistics gathered and maintained in the Civil Register will continue to inform government and serve other public institutions in performing their duties. He noted that the NCRA Act also empowers the NCRA Boss to provide NEC with data to maintain and update their voters register. He disclosed that NEC extracted data from the National Civil Register in 2013 to update its voter register for the purposes of the 2018 general election pursuant to section 5 of the NCRA Act, adding NCRA solicited legal advice from the office of the Attorney General on issues of conflict in the 1991 Constitution, the Public Elections Act and the NCRA Act. Massaquoi said NCRA was assured there is no conflict in the mandate of NEC and the NCRA, explaining the NCRA only drew the attention of the public to the benefit of the Civil Register, that relates to the use of the Civil Register by NEC to update its Voter Register. The Speaker of Parliament after the statement of the NCRA Boss and presentation of their new Public Notice asked Hon. Mark Mahmoud Kalokoh if he is satisfied that there is a new Public Notice, but Hon. Kalokoh said he is not, as there is nothing in the new Public Notice that condemned the statement in the previous public notice. With this the Speaker requested the NCRA Boss to include the statement that the new Public Notice dated 3rd March 2020 supersedes the previous one, which he did without any delay.

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