COURTESY  OF INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

Party agents dissatisfied with voter registration exercise Cassamance citizens as holders of Gambian IDs 

As the voter registration exercise continues around the country some party agents sent in registration centres to observe the process have expressed dissatisfaction over its conduct. UDP and NRP party agents at most registration centres within the Greater Banjul Area have complained of lack of access to registration tables. At Bakau some agents complained that there are people with Gambian ID cards who are not Gambians. They said those non-Gambians have had their names written for further investigation perhaps leading to prosecution in a court of law. Also in Bakau a schoolteacher Abdoulie Jallow was seen to have Gambian documents although both of is parents non-Gambians. Similar cases were also reported. 

However registration supervisors said they are not responsible for the screening of anyone who produces a Gambian birth certificate as first evidence, an ID card, a passport or a confidential letter signed by five elderly members of the constituency where the individual is residing. "All we ask party agents to do" said one supervisor, "is to take the card number of any individual or individuals who are suspected of being non-Gambians but having Gambian documents". However the problem in some others centres is that people come with their old voters cards, according to IEC rules are null and void. According to those applying for the voters cards the number of registration officers is too small. They said the small number of officers keep people standing from 7.am to 4.30pm without a guarantee that they would get a voter's card. 

There have been sporadic reports of quarrels and fights between people who go to be registered. The registration lasts for six weeks. Meanwhile the Serrekunda police station was flooded with people requesting for identity cards some of whom were referred to the Kanifing Municipal Council. When The Independent visited the KMC hundreds of people mostly Jolas who claimed to be residents of Old Jeshwang, Fajara and Ebo Town were provided with forms to fill. The Independent spoke to some ID card applicants, who did not conceal their non-Gambian origins. Fatou of Bakau Fajara said she was from Bignona in Cassamance and came to The Gambia two years ago to work as a maid in Fajara. One man who identified himself as D. Colley said he is from Ziguinchor and came here to help his brother who works as a silver smith in Ebo Town.

Other applicants said they were from Cassamance as refugees fleeing the recent upsurge of fighting in Senegal's southern province. They alleged that some people claiming to be APRC members are helping them to register and vote in the October polls. A registration agent for the NRP at the Bakau Katchically Cinema registration centre Lamin Sey said they have discovered many newly issued national identity cards which were backdated to 1999 and 2000. He said people from Cassamance were seen with forms as they process them for voter's cards. He said the residents of Bakau know each other since they have been living together for over 20 years. Mr. Sey said any new face that could not be recognised in Bakau belongs to a foreigner. He said that such people were the recipients of backdated cards. 

He commended other opposition party agents for following the rules and regulations laid down by the IEC and appealed to the electoral body to authorise the scrutiny of serial numbers of backdated cards in order and make public any incidence of dubious cards. He said the IEC should work closely with the Immigration Department to validate the authenticity of the cards before they reach registration centers. He said most of the ID cards, which are so far used in the centres were faked. He also appealed to all party agents in all registration centres across the country to be vigilant and urged party leaders to discuss the issue in the National Assembly for the of transparency. "We should beware of the time when foreigners will dominate us and there will be no citizenship in The Gambia", he said citing Israel and Palestine as examples. 

He reiterated that the population of The Gambia was less than a million a decade ago but now it has risen astronomically to about 1. 5 million, a development, which he attributed to unscrupulous possession of national documents by aliens. "We should work for our children so that tomorrow they will not have problems", he noted. He called on the IEC to take drastic measures against aliens found with backdated ID cards urging the Commission to stop their so-called invasion of registration centers. He cited Saihou Sambou of KMC as interfering in the registration process to help an alien register. 

A resident of New Jeshwang Ousman Jammeh also narrated the same story, saying, "such vicious games have become a regular occurrence at the registration centre behind the KMC office". Mr. Jammeh said by the time he got to the centre he found hundreds of as he put it aliens he recognised with backdated ID cards. Our reporter who visited both the Bakau Katchikally and Kanifing registration centers, confirmed that many aliens who could not even speak any of the three main local languages in The Gambia (Mandinka, Fula and Wolof) were issued with glitteringly new but backdated ID cards

Mori

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