By: Ilyasa Baa
The exhibition of the voters list by the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) for only five days has been contested by Legal Link, a human right based think tank, on the grounds that the law states that the Commission shall exhibit the list for a period of fourteen days.
According to the Executive Director of Legal Link, they had written to ECSL asking them to follow the due process as provided for in section 27 (5) of the Public Elections Act of 2022 passed recently in Parliament.
Lawyer Rashid Dumbuya noted that it seems their demand fell on deaf ears as the Commission has released that it would launch a mobile app for people to cross check their electoral details.
“We are going to write them again on Monday or Tuesday to inform them not to take that path considering the high level of illiteracy in the country”, he said, adding that if ECSL had gone by the fourteen days, the issues highlighted would have been addressed adequately instead of compounding the problem. He said the launching of the much talked about app will lead to more complications and create unnecessary tension on election day.
ECSL maintains it is following the law to the latter noting that five days was ideal for registrants to cross check their details. The Commission further maintains that the app would put to rest the issue of crosschecking of details.