NCD raises awareness on Confirmation and Registration Exercise

In its engagement with the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), the National Commission for Democracy (NCD) carried out an intensive awareness-raising campaign exercise reaching out to communities in the Western Area to educate and encourage them about the Confirmation and Registration exercise by NCRA.

The collaborative engagement between the two institutions is geared towards raising awareness on the significance of the process to encourage everybody residing in Sierra Leone to be registered so that their details can be captured in the National Register and also provide them with a National Identification Number (NIN).

In her brief statement, the Acting Chairman of NCD, Madam Angela Marian Samu, endorsed the exercise by NCRA even as she underscored its significance. She noted that her Commission is a leading governance institution with a vision geared towards promoting transparent processes and institutions hence, the need for a collaborative engagement with NCRA in the process of confirming and registering people residing in the country.

She further emphasized the need for effective awareness-raising about the process, saying that civic consciousness must be at the centre of the process to get the desired result. “Nationalism together with patriotism begins with obtaining a national identity and the development planning implications of having a civil register cannot be overemphasized,” the Acting Chairman said.

The effort of the Commission in raising awareness on the Registration and Confirmation exercise received wide acclamation from the general public even as the Director-General of NCRA, Mr. Mohamed M. Massaquoi, commended the Commission for its invaluable contribution in keeping the public abreast with the Registration and Confirmation exercise. Mr. Massaquoi encouraged the general public to take advantage of the opportunity provided by his institution to confirm or register their details so that they will be provided with a national identification number that will be unique to everybody residing in the Country. The NCRA boss highlighted several benefits that come along with the acquisition of the NIN and therefore urged everybody resident in the Country to either confirm or register.

Other institutions like the National Election Watch (NEW) and the National Electoral Commission (NEC) in the fortnightly Political Party Liaison Committee meeting also commended NCD for its intervention in the exercise. They applauded the Commission for the significant role it performs in awakening the general public to the importance of the exercise noting that with the intervention of the Commission, there was a massive turnout in all the Centres across the Western Area.

The collaborative engagement between the two institutions on the Confirmation and Registration exercise commenced on Saturday, 8th May and ended on Saturday, 29th May 2021, with the PR and Communications Director, Rev. Gibrilla Kargbo, leading the team. The Team started its public engagement in the Brookfields community and eventually went to every Ward and Constituency in the Western Area during the course of twenty-two days educating them about the need to participate in the exercise. The Commission used its public address system mounted on its Outside Broadcast Van to reach out to a good number of people at every stop on the way. The Outreach Team also used megaphones to do face–to–face engagements with people providing them with information about the process even as they encouraged them to go to the nearest registration centres to confirm or register their details.

The Team also used the opportunity to direct people to the location of the centres in addition to clarifying the misconceptions around the Confirmation and Registration exercise to enhance people’s understanding about the exercise. The team was proactive enough to inform the public that the exercise has nothing to do with the Mid-Term Census or any upcoming electoral exercise even as it explained patiently and clearly what the exercise is really about to get the people to fully understand the exercise.