The National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) wrapped-up its community sensitization on Supplementary Voter Registration. The campaign which started in December 2015 ended on the 3rd March 2016. This was part of the activities as per the recently signed MoU between the NCCE and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), for NCCE to conduct community sensitization on the supplementary voter registration in the rural communities, which is part of the preparation for the upcoming electoral cycle.
This is part of the strategies the IEC employed to sensitize the populace on the ongoing Supplementary Voter Registration. The campaign covered more than one hundred and twenty (120) selected registration centres in Upper River Region, Central River Region, North Bank Region, Lower River Region and West Coast Region.
Issues discussed in this exercise includes: citizen’s political rights and duties; importance of getting a voter’s card; importance of participating in the country’s electoral process; understanding of the raison d’être for the supplementary Voter Registration; qualifications for registration, Why and how to register; when to register (date and time); the do’s and don’ts of the registration; etc.
The community sensitization on Supplementary Voter Registration which took the form of face-to-face community meetings was a nationwide exercise conducted in selected communities in Upper River Region (URR), Central River Region (CRR), North Bank Region (NBR), Lower River Region (LRR) and West Coast Region (WCR). About nine thousand, nine hundred and forty-nine (9,949) people were reached in the exercise.
The exercise was successfully implemented as planned and the visited communities really showed appreciation. The methodologies used has helped a great deal in reaching diverse people in diverse communities because it enabled people to listen keenly to the campaigners and express their thoughts after the deliberations as well as interact with the campaigners, make contributions and seek clarification.
Finally the NCCE commended the IEC for the move and assured them of their continuous partnership in the execution of its mandate of educating the Gambian citizenry on their civic rights, duties and responsibilities and other laws of the Gambia as well as international conventions.
NCCE Statement