By Sylvester Samba.
The Director General of the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), Mr. Mohamed M. Massaquoi and team yesterday updated stakeholders on their preparations to conduct nationwide confirmation of personal details of citizens and non- citizens and to register the unregistered population.
The event which took place at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Finance was witnessed by all the registered Political Parties, PPRC, Civil Society Organizations, NASSIT, NRA, Immigration Department, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Statistics Sierra Leone, SLRSA, NEC, Bank of Sierra Leone, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Accountant General’s Department/Ministry of Finance among others.
Briefing pressmen immediately after the engagement, the NCRA Director General said, all stakeholders present are beneficiaries of the Civil Register that contains data on the population of Sierra Leone intended by law to inform public administration and service delivery.
“The Confirmation and Registration exercise will commence on the 6th May through 28th July, 2021 and will be done by Region…The whole exercise which cost about Le44 billion is singularly funded by the Government of Sierra Leone in the development of a Permanent Civil Register consistent with the NCRA Act, 2016”, Mr. Massaquoi explained. He maintained that, the Government of Sierra Leone has provided support to increase the number of days to the period earlier scheduled for the Confirmation and Registration exercise i.e. from 8 days to 10 days.
The NCRA boss added that 345 Centers have been added to the initial 1,655 Confirmation and Registration Centers bringing the number of Centers to 2,000, “Confirmation and Registration Centers have been mapped, updated and designated covering all 2,000 Centers for the exercise across the country…In addition to the 2,000 Centers and days, provision has been made for Roaming Teams to cover hard-to-reach areas in the communities during the period of the exercise to ease the burden of movement on the population…Adequate publicity will be done to inform the public on the process and period…
These measures are in response to concerns and recommendations from Political Parties and Civil Society Organizations to ensure adequate publicity, add to Centers and period of Confirmation and Registration”, Mr. Massaquoi noted.
In addition to these, he said, provision has also been made as earlier stated to allow Organizations and Institutions who wish to observe the exercise to do so without hindrance in order to ensure transparency and credibility of the process. He said an accreditation will be given to such Institutions and Organizations with interest to observe the exercise
