DG Massaquoi Takes NCRA to Higher Height
By BW
The appointment of the Director General of the National Civil Registration Agency (NCRA), Mr. Mohamed Massaquoi has been described by many as timely, effective and undisputed. Since his appointment he been able to use his expertise and leadership style to move a once dormant and ineffective but important institution from the state of slumber, nonfunctional to an enviable, functional and attractive institution to an extent that it is now popularly known as “The Athens of West Africa” where other countries in the sub region have been attracted to visit and learn about civil registration. For instance, Liberia and The Gambia have visited the NCRA to understudy the institutions activities.
With President Bio’s vision and commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 16/9: Registration of all by 2030, the narrative was changed on Monday 30th January 2023 when the National ID registration was officially launched by H. E. Rtd Brigadier Julius Maada Bio. That transition period came along with additional tasks on the leadership of Mr. Massaquoi who quickly coordinated and introduced an interim measure to address the previous fraudulent attempts before the full commencement of the new national ID Registration which involved three categories; National Identification for Sierra Leonean and foreign nationals, and ECOWAS ID card which enables Sierra Leonean citizens to move freely within the sub region without hindrance.
In a bid to expedite the process to meet the SDG target, DG Massaquoi and his professional staff embarked on taking the NCRA registration to the door steps of the ordinary man by establishing District offices nationwide and at the time of going to press, a huge community engagement and sensitization is ongoing nationwide. Communities are fast embracing the process by organizing themselves and calling on the NCRA staff to registration thus saving huge finances involved in traveling to and from district headquarters for registration.
According to the NCRA Tonkolili District Registration Officer, Abdul Rahim Sheriff, community stakeholders including Paramount Chiefs, Town and Village Chiefs and councilors have been frequently engaged and convinced to own the registration process which has positively triggered enthusiasm to register. Registration had been carried out in Yoni, Bumbuna and next to visit, upon the invitation of stakeholders, is Masingbi. In further engagements PHU/medical staff of the district have been fully educated to accept the securitized birth certificates 0-90 days is now under the mandate of the NCRA without any distortion or disregard for the previous ones. However, the extension of these services to communities has huge logistical and funding challenges like mobility and registration of equipment and staff enumeration. This is where collective advocacy is needed to attract additional support from government, development partners, local and international NGOs to ensure that Sierra Leone is part of the global to register all its citizens by 2030.
