𝐍𝐂𝐑𝐀 𝐃𝐆 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐃𝟒𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚

The Director General (DG) of the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), Mohamed Mubashir Massaquoi on Tuesday addressed the 2024 Annual General Assembly (AGM) of ID4Africa – the continent’s largest identity movement which is underway in Cape Town, South Africa.

This year’s AGM which has a record attendance of more than 2,000 delegates from over 100 countries, marks the 10th anniversary of the movement which was founded in 2014. The ID4Africa AGM however had its humble beginnings a year later in 2015 with the inaugural edition hosted by Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam.

The AGM is a confluence of over 2000 high-level officials from governments, NGOs, the private sector, and global identity experts.

Speaking at the world-class Cape Town International Convention Centre 2 (CTICC 2), Cape Town, South Africa, Mr Massaquoi presented Sierra Leone’s civil registration and legal identity advancements to a global audience.

Sierra Leone has showcased unmatched achievements in the identity arena under the watch of Mr Massaquoi, compelling other nations to learn from it.

In a statement, Mr Massaquoi implored other states to emulate President Julius Maada Bio’s commitment to prioritising legal identity at the helm of public administration, governance, and accountability in Sierra Leone.

Following his address, identity leaders of Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia, Rwanda, and Zambia – all approached Mr Massaquoi to visit Sierra Leone to learn to advance their movements towards an integrated digital identity in their respective countries.

In addition, other countries, including Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda had all expressed similar interest in learning from Sierra Leone.

Meanwhile, Mr Massaquoi ended his speech with a two-minute video of President Bio’s commitment at the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly where he committed to strengthening civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) and legal identity through partnership and innovation.

In that video, the president said governance, financial inclusion, and other human rights imperatives work well with a well-functioning civil registration and vital statistics and identify management system in place.

Elsewhere as he outlined the movement’s achievements as well as future perspectives in pushing ahead the legal and digital identity discourse, the Executive Chairman of ID4Africa Movement, Dr Joseph Atick expressed a hearty congratulations to the Sierra Leone NCRA Director General for a “job exceptionally well done.”

For the 10th ID4Africa AGM, Mr Massaquoi led a distinguished delegation comprising technical staff of NCRA; Bank of Sierra Leone; EC-SL; NASSIT; NRA; the Chairpersons of Bo and Kailahun Districts; the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs; female Parliamentarians; and a leading civil society activist on governance and accountability, CARL-SL’s Executive Director – to South Africa.