By Makutu Manneh
Yusupha Bojang, the Chief Civic Education Officer of the National Council for Civic Education, has attributed recurring disputes during voter registration to political leaders, arguing that they have repeatedly failed to enact reforms that could have resolved long-standing challenges.
“Our problem here is the politicians,” Mr. Bojang said. “They do not help us in the sense that today the issue that they are defending, tomorrow they will come to cry over.”
Bojang noted that many of the challenges currently surfacing in the registration process—particularly those relating to attestation—were not new, but had persisted through previous electoral cycles. He argued that such concerns should have been addressed in the revised 2025 elections law, drawing lessons from the 2016 and 2021 polls.
“These problems did not start now, especially attestation,” he said, adding that legislative reform should have anticipated and resolved such recurring disputes.
His remarks came amid growing public concern over the use of attestation in voter registration, including cases involving individuals in their sixties and seventies who reportedly lack formal identification documents. There have also been allegations of underage individuals being presented for registration.
Bojang maintained that the legal framework significantly constrains the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), limiting its discretion in determining eligibility. He cited provisions of the Elections Act, which stipulate that any applicant presenting a valid document must be issued a voter’s card and that such applications cannot be rejected arbitrarily.
“The law is clear that anyone with a valid document must be issued a voter card,” he said, emphasizing that the IEC does not have the authority to conduct interviews or subjective assessments during registration.
Demba Jallow, the IEC’s Voter Education and Training Officer, echoed this position, stressing that the commission’s operations are strictly guided by law rather than administrative discretion.
He added that the Commission neither issues nor verifies foundational identity documents such as birth certificates, passports, national ID cards, or attestations, noting that these responsibilities lie with other state institutions.
“If these documents have issues, I don’t think it’s fair for the IEC to be blamed,” Jallow said.
Addressing concerns that individuals presenting valid identification were being turned away, Jallow clarified that possession of a document does not automatically guarantee acceptance if authenticity is in doubt. He said registration teams are equipped with formal rejection procedures to manage such cases.
“The law requires an authentic document,” he said. “Coming with a document is not enough; it has to be valid.”
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