“Some Registration Centres Did Not Open on the first Day,” National Election Watch Reveals

The National Election Watch (NEW) has revealed that the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) started the National Voter Registration exercise on 3rd September 2022 as scheduled for the first phase, but not all centres were opened on Day one.

NEW made this revelation on their update on the ongoing voter registration across the country issued on Tuesday 6 September 2022.

According to NEW, some phase one Centres did not open on Day One of the Voter Registration Exercise, mostly due to late deployment of Registration Materials.
“In five districts (Karene, Kambia, Port Loko, Pujehun and Kenema) Registration Materials arrived at the district headquarter towns on the eve (2 September) of the Registration exercise and were required to be distributed further to the Registration Centres in the localities. This posed challenges for registration Centres to open on time,” the National Election monitoring body stated.

NEW added that, “In Karene, the vehicle distributing the materials to the centres within the district got stuck in the mud further delaying distribution of materials to some Registration Centres. In six districts, materials arrived in the early hours of the first day of Registration (3rd September) when materials were supposed to have already been in the Centres. This was evident in Bo, Moyamba, Kono, Bombali, Falaba, and Bonthe Island.

In Bonthe Mainland, the situation became compounded when the main bridge at Bumpeh linking the district got broken down and an alternative route had to be taken. In Tonkolili, the first batch of materials was delivered on the 2nd September but the second batch on the 3 September. In Koinadugu, whilst materials arrived as early as 1″ September, deployment to centres in far off localities was delayed. Therefore, centres accounting for up to 70 miles from Kabala i.e St. Ballia and Mange did not open on the first day due to distribution delays.

On the Availability of Materials, Equipment and Staff, NEW disclosed that, “Registration materials and equipment except for the VIU (Voter Identification Unit) 820 kits were available in all Registration Centres that were opened and observed.”

“The VIU 820 kit which is to capture new registrants was either not available or not functioning. In general, all centres observed, had the full component of all four ECSL staff and they were mostly youth and gender balanced.”

NEW furthered that the ECSL staff were respectful and patiently accommodated registrants’ complaints even in locations where registration had stopped.

“ECSL staff were also present in locations where materials were not available,” they added.

On the “Functionality of Kits”, NEW found out that malfunction of kits was evident in most centres observed, adding the most recurrent was the VIU 820 kit, the solar panel could not charge the device and the power banks available could not retain power.

“The problem related to the VVK had to do with the low battery life and Registration staff had to search for power in nearby locations to charge the VVK. In some instances, the VVK could not sustain power beyond 30 minutes. NEW observed instances where ordinary citizens volunteered to give their generators to support the process,” they added.

On “Registrants Turnout and Sustainability”, NEW revealed that registrants were enthusiastic and came to the centres in their numbers but due to the malfunctioning of kits they had to stay long hours around the registration centre vicinity while others went home.

“In some centres visited, delays were experienced because Registration Officers could not log into the kits,” they stated.

NEW noted that information on which centres are opened in each of the phases are limited causing registrants to go to registration centres far from their residence and in other instances resulting in overcrowding.
“There were few instances where the biometric features of registrants especially the aged, farmers and fishermen could not be captured by the device, NEW observed that the registration staff did not follow a uniform procedure to address this challenge. NEW notes the high turnout of the Aged to register and they were given preference to register,” NEW observed.

On “Familiarity with the Process by Staff”, NEW disclosed that at the start of the exercise, the process was slow but progressively improved.
NEW observed that in most centres where equipment were fully functional, registration staff were familiar with the registration process and all registrants who had the right documents and were able to recall their information correctly completed the process on average of 5mins. “Registration staff gave preferential treatment to the Elderly, women with babies, lactating mothers and Persons with Disability (PWDs),” NEW observed.

On “Location of the Centres and State of Public Facilities,” New observed that some Registration Centres were located in open spaces with no canopy, whilst some were located in verandas of private dwellings and others in verandas of schools with no protection from inclement weather and did not allow for the smooth flow of the process.
“Some Centres were not easily accessible especially to PWDs. NEW observed Centres located at elevated levels in some cases with no proper stairway and ramps. Most of the school buildings, community centres and public facilities where Registration Centres are located are unkept, some in dilapidated states with poor sanitary conditions, and no electricity. The state of such facilities is unsuitable for election purposes,” the election observers stated.

On “Security”, NEW observed that, “Notwithstanding the challenges posed by the malfunctioning of kits, the process was generally peaceful in many locations across the country. Police presence was observed in some centres, others were roving across the vicinity, some dropped their contacts to the Registration officials to be called upon in the event of security threats.’

On the presence of “Political Party Agents”, NEW observed that, predominantly, SLPP party agents were deployed in all centres observed across the country, whilst the APC party did not deploy party agents in every Registration Centre observed, the NGC was in few and then C4C only in Kono District. No other political party was seen in all Registration Centres observed.
On “Incidents”, NEW observed that, “In Constituency 060 Ward 200 Centre 08091, Children’s Welfare Primary School Fonkoya; and Ward 201 Centre 08100 Movement of Faith Primary School, Kaniya, three party agents from the APC were arrested by the security of the Ambassador of Sierra Leone to Guinea, who is also the SLPP District Chairman for Kambia and handed them over to the Kambia Police. These three party agents have been released through the intervention of Human Rights Activists in Kambia.”

NEW also observed that some political party stalwarts are campaigning on the guise of Voter Registration Education. “This is in breach of the Public Elections Act of 2012 which forbids campaigning before the Campaign period is officially declared by the ECSL. In addition, the warning of the PPRC chair re-echoed in the PPRC News brief of 30th August is being violated,” NEW stated.

In conclusion, NEW gives the following recommendations;

• With the challenges experienced with the VIU 820 and VVK equipment, NEW calls on ECSL to take immediate action, undertake an audit of all Centres across the country and ensure remedial measures.

• ECSL in future to undertake a pilot testing of all equipment and processes before implementation

• ECSL should communicate a uniform way of addressing events where the biometric device could not recognize the thumbprint of the registrant and other procedures to their ad-hoc staff for the purpose of consistency

• ECSL to intensify education on the Centres to open on each of the Phases of the Exercise and ensure proper signage.

• PPRC must monitor and continue to engage political parties to adhere to the provisions in the Electoral laws especially on campaigns.

• Government and local authorities must ensure that public facilities are up to a minimum standards to accommodate public activities

• NEW encourages the public to exercise patience as we engage the ECSL and other stakeholders to address the current challenges with the registration equipment.

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NEW recruited, trained and deployed 182 stationed observers, which is 10% of the ECSL established centres for Phase one, to observe the first and last day of phase one. In addition to the stationed observers, NEW also deployed 44 supervisors and 8 roving teams of 2 each to have a fair coverage of the entire process across the country. The Roving team will continue to observe the Exercise for the entire period. NEW will continue to observe the Voter Registration Exercise and report to the public.