Stand off at Gunjur voter registration centre
by Lamin Touray
The smooth flow of voter registration in one of the two registration centres in Gunjur was reportedly halted by the unruly behaviour of one Yusupha K Janneh, an agent for the APRC. Contacted, Janneh, who claimed to be "agent number one" for the APRC, said he was pursuing the case of five women who were allegedly rejected, despite producing national identity cards.
Janneh held that the women, Mbasi Sanneh from Bulock bearing an ID Card with serial number 207931, Nyumo Sanneh, Bondali, serial number 061852, Kaddy Badjie, Gunjur, serial number OB2017, Mauna Sanneh, Kanwally, serial number 213618 and Fatou Bojang, Kanfenda, serial number 320670 were rejected because the registration officers had pre-conceived notions about the women's surnames and places of origin. When this reporter visited the centre on Thursday May 31, Janneh was there with the five women, although he was told that there was no film at the time. Asked what he would do if the women were rejected for the second time, he replied: "I will see to it that they are given cards at all costs.
I will sue them to court if they rejected them again." Another APRC agent at the same centre, Abdoulie Kinteh, said the officers had no cause to reject the women because they were in possession of identity cards, which were given with attestation of chiefs and alkalolu. Kinteh said if any IEC interviewer did not know The Gambia, he should blame himself and not the interviewee. "Registration at this centre is based on the stated rules," Kinteh noted. He said the five women would be registered "by force or we will close the registration exercise."
Kinteh blamed the PPP government for perpetrating the practice of registering aliens "for their selfish interests." Kinteh urged the IEC to liaise with the Immigration Department to determine who was a Gambian and who was not. Officers at the centre said there was a difference between "rejection and referral." The senior registration officer at Kombo Sillah, Sang Mendy, said Yusupha Janneh's interruption was not the cause of the registration stoppage but rather the shortage of films, promising that the women were going to be registered when films were made available.
Sanyang registration exercise aborted
by Saikou Marena
The Independent electoral Commission's team No 013 at Sanyang reportedly stopped their registration exercise Wednesday afternoon. This, sources said, was consequent upon threats they received from the assistant commissioner Western Division, Bakary Jaiteh, and some APRC youth activists in the area. According to the sources, one Ba-Foday, a youth activist in Sanyang, came to the registration centre and threatened that if he was not registered, after producing his valid Gambian ID card, there would be trouble.
"You cannot come with your own laws here and do whatever you desire. You better register us or there would be no work," he reportedly threatened. Assistant commissioner Jaiteh was said to have come to the centre later with Ba-Foday and four other youth activists, "threatening to deport us from Sanyang and the entire Western Division if we failed to register them by force," a member of the IEC registration team told the Daily Observer.
Efforts by some NIA personnel and one Sam Njie to douse the tension proved abortive, which was why, "we packed our belongings and drove up to the Senegambia area and the assistant commissioner told us "we don't need your services here," another member of the team said. When contacted, Sam Njie said, "Look, I am very sorry, I am not in a position to tell you anything. I am busy writing my report on the incident." For his part, Assistant commissioner Bakary Jaiteh said he knew nothing about the incident.