By: Saidu Jalloh
The National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), in partnership with the High Commission of Canada, conducted a high-level fraud awareness and document security training for frontline and technical staff in Freetown on Thursday.
This landmark initiative comes at a time when global threats to identity integrity are rising, and Sierra Leone is expanding its digital identity framework to better protect citizens and strengthen national security.
In a post-training statement, NCRA Director General Mohamed Mubashir Massaquoi reaffirmed the Authority’s commitment to improving document authentication, staff capacity, and inter-agency coordination.
“With partners like the High Commission of Canada,” Mr. Massaquoi said, “we are laying a firm foundation for a secure and credible national identity system. This is about national security, economic stability, and protecting every Sierra Leonean.”
Mr. Massaquoi has recently intensified efforts to combat identity fraud in Sierra Leone, following his earlier declaration of a “war against identity fraud,” which he insists is a battle the country must win.
The training was facilitated by Jennifer O’Connell, an experienced officer from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), who has spent two decades in border security, immigration enforcement, and anti-fraud operations. Her mission in Sierra Leone is to equip NCRA officers with modern strategies to detect criminal attempts to exploit identity documents before they enter national systems. Ms. O’Connell outlined common methods of identity manipulation including counterfeit birth certificates and altered death records frequently used for human trafficking, illegal migration, and cross-border crime.
Addressing the participants, NCRA Director of Human Resources Management, Alfred B. Sesay, emphasized the critical nature of the fight against identity fraud.
“Identity fraud is a national security threat, and we are confronting it head-on,” he said. He stressed that Sierra Leone’s identity system including records of births, deaths, marriages, national ID cards, and the National Identification Number (NIN) forms the foundation for essential services such as passports, banking, and social protection.
The NCRA also disclosed ongoing discussions with the Immigration Department to make the NIN a mandatory requirement for passports, a move aimed at eliminating inconsistencies that have previously allowed individuals to obtain travel documents without verified identity records.
“It is unacceptable for anyone to carry a newly issued passport that our system cannot validate,” Mr. Sesay asserted. “A passport must be anchored on a verified national identity. That era of shortcuts is ending.”
He further emphasized that frontline staff are custodians of citizens’ information and noted that clean, accurate data strengthens the entire identity ecosystem.
Participants described the training as timely, practical, and essential to national security. Senior staff members including Mohamed S. Konuwa, Abubakarr Javombo, and Sahr Foday underscored the importance of closer collaboration with immigration, medical councils, and law enforcement agencies to ensure consistent verification of foundational documents.
Common identity-related risks discussed during the session included attempts to obtain passports without national IDs, manipulation of birth or death certificates for inheritance disputes, issuance of unverified medical certificates, insider threats, and falsified documents used to transport children across borders.
One NCRA officer noted, “When someone presents a passport that has no corresponding national identity record, that is not simply a mistake; it is a red flag. Our duty is to say no and protect the system.”
The training also followed recent engagements with officials from Canada’s Consular Office, led by Honorary Consul Kofie Macauley. He announced that Sierra Leoneans applying for Canadian services will no longer need to travel to Guinea or Ghana for fingerprinting, thanks to upgraded biometric capabilities now available in Freetown.
Ms. O’Connell praised Sierra Leone’s proactive approach, stating, “The civil registry is the heartbeat of national identity, and your officers are the first line of defense.” She warned that if fraudulent birth, death, or marriage records enter the system, every national document including passports, IDs, and social service files becomes vulnerable.
She also cited global examples where weak identity systems facilitated human trafficking, welfare fraud, illegal migration, and cross-border criminal networks, stressing that no country is immune and vigilance must begin at the frontline.