By: Aminata Sesay
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Sierra Leone’s Parliament has raised serious concerns over the absence of a disaster recovery plan at the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), warning that this critical gap poses a significant national security threat and could disrupt future national elections.
During a high-level oversight session on the 2023 Audit Report, held live with NCRA officials, Deputy Speaker of Parliament and PAC Chairman, Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, underscored the pivotal role NCRA plays in Sierra Leone’s governance architecture. He emphasized that core national functions including voter registration and statistical data collection depend heavily on the integrity and continuity of NCRA’s data systems.
“If anything happens to the NCRA, there will be no elections,” Hon. Tawa warned. “The Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) relies on the NCRA for accurate population data and voter information. Without it, the voter register collapses.”
The PAC’s concern centers on the fact that NCRA has not yet established a Disaster Recovery Site (DRS), despite being responsible for managing the National Identification Numbers (NINs) and personal data of millions of citizens. Officials noted that a cyber attack, fire, or major system failure could potentially wipe out the entire national identity infrastructure.
“Yesterday, someone was 25. Today, they wake up and are 15. Before the NCRA, no one had an official age. The age just kept shifting. So the implication is massive,” a PAC member commented, pointing to the stabilizing effect NCRA has had on civil records.
In response, NCRA project coordinators confirmed that provisions for a disaster recovery site were included in the 2025 project budget, which had already received parliamentary approval. However, they admitted that implementation has been delayed due to limited institutional support and bureaucratic bottlenecks.
PAC members expressed alarm over the electoral implications of this delay. Without a functioning disaster recovery mechanism, NCRA cannot guarantee data availability to ECSL, potentially jeopardizing national elections.
“Forget the election that’s just one aspect,” Hon. Tawa added. “If NCRA’s data is lost, rebuilding the database could take at least two years. That could result in extending the terms of current officeholders. While that might benefit a few, it poses a serious risk to national stability.”
The committee resolved to escalate the matter immediately to the Ministry of Finance and to seek a formal engagement with the Financial Secretary to secure funding and ensure timely implementation of the disaster recovery system. The Deputy Speaker pledged to personally bring the issue to the attention of the President, emphasizing that it must be treated as a matter of national emergency.
“This is not a minor agency issue. NCRA sits at the top of our governance system. Every major institution Statistics Sierra Leone, ECSL, ministries relies on the data it provides. If that data disappears, the whole system collapses.”
The PAC concluded by reaffirming its commitment to follow up rigorously through formal correspondence and budgetary scrutiny to ensure the DRS is established without further delay.
In a related development, the PAC welcomed newly recruited staff from the Audit Service Sierra Leone, who will serve as Parliament’s proxy in monitoring and reviewing the financial activities of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) across the country. The session reinforced Parliament’s oversight mandate and the need for collaboration with credible institutions like the NCRA and Audit Service to safeguard national governance.
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