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By Fatou Jaiteh.
An official of the Gambia’s electoral body, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) stationed at Mandinari has decried the low turnout of citizens for registration ahead of the December 4 Presidential election and the rest of the election calendar.
The Digest News has on Monday visited registration centers in the Greater Banjul Area to assess the turnout before the official closure of registration on July 11, as stated the by IEC.
Among the registration centers visited are Mandinaba village in the Kombo East District, Nema village, Serrekunda West Park, Latrikunda Sabiji Upper Basic School and the center located at Pipeline Mosque respectively.
Speaking to The Digest News, Karamba Jabbi, a senior registration officer at the center in Mandinaba, said recently members of the public have not been coming compared to the first few days of the registration process.
He added that the process has been going on smoothly without any problems, unlike other parts of the country where there have been widespread claims of people of other nationalities trying to register to secure a Gambian voter‘s card.
He disclosed that the main challenge they are facing is the lack of good printing machine. He said their printing machines are not functioning well and that, the government should look into that.
On his part, Alieu Jallow, a member of the Council of Elders of Mandinaba, described their community as the most peaceful place in the Kombo East District.
He expressed delight at the smooth conduct of the registration in their community and lauded the initiative of the council of elders to effectively coordinate it.
In a seperate engagement, Ms. Isatou Darboe, a senior IEC officer posted at the LK School registration center, shared her experience of a boy with double identification, which they later found out to be false. She disloclesd that the boy had a birth certificate with the surname Cham, while his passport had the surname Loum.