By Fatou Sillah
Ousainou Allen, leader of the National Alliance for Accelerated Advancement (NAFAA), has criticized what he describes as a disproportionate focus on voter registration at the expense of essential civil documentation services such as national ID cards and passports.
Speaking in an interview with West Coast Radio, Allen argued that while voter registration processes are relatively accessible and free, access to other critical identity documents remains slow, costly, and burdensome for citizens.
“What we have observed is we have a governance system that is more of an electoral cycle type of governance as opposed to the Gambian first type of governance,” he said.
He contrasted the ease of obtaining a voter’s card with the challenges surrounding national identification documents, noting that citizens are often required to pay fees and endure lengthy delays.
“For a voter’s card, you just walk up, present a document, and if you don’t have it, you go to an Alkalo and get an attestation for free. But for an ID card that you need for everyday affairs, you pay D450 and wait months, sometimes more than that,” he said.
Allen argued that these inefficiencies disproportionately affect ordinary citizens who rely on official documents for daily administrative and economic activities, adding that many people feel sidelined in state service delivery.
“This is why we need to elect the right people, whether at the executive or legislative level,” he added.
He further called for a comprehensive audit of the civil registry system, including records of births, marriages, and deaths, saying gaps in the system continue to contribute to broader challenges in national identification and documentation.
“We need to conduct a civil registry audit—births, marriages, and deaths. We should examine what we have, who obtained documentation correctly, and who did not. Birth certificates should be issued at birth. The system should be decentralized to make access easier rather than requiring people to travel long distances,” he said.
Allen also cautioned against overreliance on local attestation systems, warning that they are vulnerable to misuse and inconsistencies. He stressed the need for stronger institutional verification mechanisms to ensure the integrity of official records.
“Even Alkalo attestation has been misused over the years,” he noted.
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