UDP Plans to Sue Election Commission Over Withheld Voter Registration Data, Questions Whereabouts of Semlex ID Records

By Seedy Jobe

The United Democratic Party said it is preparing to take the Independent Electoral Commission to court to compel the release of data it has sought for four months, and it questioned where national identification records produced by the company Semlex are being held.

Lamin Manneh, the party’s deputy administrative secretary for external affairs, said in an interview on Friday with Kerr Fatou’s “The Grand Bantaba” program that he was traveling to Banjul to meet the party’s lawyer and finalize the legal action. He said he was on his way as of Wednesday.

Mr. Manneh said the party was entitled to the data and accused the commission of deliberately withholding information that he said should take no more than five minutes to provide. The commission’s silence for four months, he said, suggested it had something to hide.

“The cover-up is often worse than the crime itself,” he said. “What you say you are hiding will come out. For four months you could not reply to us, for four months you could not give us what we are asking for.” He said the party had even invited the commission to acknowledge any error so it could be corrected and the work could proceed.

Mr. Manneh also raised concerns about identification data produced by Semlex, which includes passports, ID cards, and other national documents. He said that when the party’s lawyer, Ya Kumba Jaiteh, subpoenaed the Immigration Department to testify this week about the party’s request, officials told the court that the data was no longer in their possession and that they did not know where it was.

Because Semlex produced the data under contract for The Gambia, Mr. Manneh said, it belongs to the country and should be held by the Immigration Department on behalf of the state.

“Where is the data? Who has monopolized that data, who is controlling that data?” he asked.

He alleged that whoever controls the Semlex data could produce ID cards and passports for anyone. Voter cards, he said, would be different because they could not be added to the system without being detected. He warned that the situation amounted to tampering with national data and that, if left unchallenged, manipulation could grow worse.

The Independent Electoral Commission and the Immigration Department have not yet responded to Mr. Manneh’s claims.