As we embark on the ongoing voter-registration exercise, the Opposition must
endeavor to ensure that ONLY and ALL eligible Gambians are registered to
vote. We are told that the following documentation is needed in order for
one to be registered as a voter: national identity card, passport, birth
certificate, previous voter's card or affidavits by five elders attesting to
a voter's place and date of birth.

It is crucial that we have our eyes open during this period. Let us ensure
that our supporters have the necessary documentation in order to prove their
eligibility to vote. Upon their registration, we should ensure that they
safeguard their cards for the forthcoming elections. We cannot overemphasize
how important it is for one to exercise ones constitutional right to vote in
the coming election. This is our only chance to get rid of Yaya in a
(remotely) peaceful way.

Having ensured that our supporters register and hold on to their cards until
election day, we should also be vigilant and ensure that ineligible people
are NOT registered to vote. The way we do this is to be at the registration
stations and monitor who is being registered to vote and what documents he
or she is bringing to the table. I also hope that at the end of the
registration period, the Opposition will be given a list of all registered
voters and an opportunity to challenge the registration of ineligible voters
in open court.

The best way we can determine foul play in the registration process is to be
present at the registration venues and see what kind of documentation people
are using in order to register. From the above list, the one that can be
open to the most abuse is the affidavit from five elders in the community.
This should have been a very reliable source of identifying people. But in
today's Gambia where Yaya is being given a free hand to appoint and fire
chiefs at a time when the government uses all forms of thuggery to
intimidate defenseless citizens, it would not be difficult for certain
elders in Kanilai to sit down and swear that a certain Casamance citizen is
actually Gambian whose fore-fathers were all born in Serrekunda. So, it is
incumbent on the Opposition to challenge any shenanigans the APRC and the
IEC wishes to engage in. We should take a close look at the affidavits these
'elders' are attesting to. For all we know, some of these so-called elders
might not even be Gambians themselves.

The scrutiny does not stop at the affidavits. We should also look at the
passports and national identity cards some people are going to present in
order to prove their eligibility to register to vote. It is not too long ago
that we heard that top APRC government officials were going to people's
private homes giving them our national identity documents. We hear of
reports of how other West Africans are caught with Gambian passports. In
short, the Opposition also have to scrutinize these documents. We all know
that some of the civil servants tasked with issuing these documents are APRC
cronies that will gladly sell these documents to non-Gambians for a quick
buck or issue the documents to refugees living in the country so that those
refugees can vote for APRC.

We have to gather the necessary information now as the registration process
is going on. Once the process is completed, we should be in a position to
challenge the registration of ineligible voters. I reiterate that if we
screw this opportunity up, we might as well forget about the elections. The
rigging has began in earnest. We must fight them every step of the way. I
respectfully urge the Opposition to pay heed to who is being registered and
to revisit the 'challenge' provisions to ensure that we would be able to
take ineligible voters off the list of voters.

Talking about voter registration, I hope for the sake of those in the
Diaspora that were hoping to register and vote, that we did not put undue
faith in Roberts' promises. I will be pleasantly surprised if these people
go ahead and register Gambians that are outside the SeneGambian region. The
reason I am saying this is that Roberts did not seriously espouse this idea
of registering Gambians outside The Gambia until Sedat Jobe and Yaya went to
Senegal and Sedat Jobe promised APRC supporters in Dakar that the government
will look into registering Gambian voters outside of The Gambia. I cannot
help but notice how Roberts have craftily expressed a caveat to his
utterances. As I understand it, registering people in the Diaspora depends
on the IEC having the required funds to pull it off. What can stop these
people from waiting to the eleventh hour and going to Senegal, registering
Yaya supporters and telling the rest of us that they do not have money to
come to the U.S. or go to Britain or Scandinavia? The reason I am bringing
this up now is to alert the Opposition to ready for Roberts and the IEC. If
they are going to register Gambians outside the country, the process has to
be fair. They cannot just go to places where they think Yaya has the most
support. The IEC should be asked to make a firm commitment about how it is
going to conduct the registration exercise for Gambians living abroad.
KB

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