South Sudan: Registrars in Mundari East are having problems reaching voters

In Mundari East county, southern Sudan, the National Elections Commission (NEC) should make sure that the registration centers are properly identified, so that people know where to go to register.

When they wanted to show the people how to get to the center, the NEC officials used the same boundary tape the deminers use to indicate the presence of land-mines

Full report from Sudan Radio Service, Friday, November 2009 by email:

27 November 2009 - (Mundri) - The logistical challenges facing registrars in Mundri East county are making it difficult to register people in the county.

Speaking to SRS on Friday, the commissioner of Mundri East county, Wilson Api John, says that the NEC should make sure that the registration centers are properly identified, so that people know where to go to register.

[Wilson Api]: "When they wanted to show the people how to get to the center, the NEC officials used the same boundary tape the deminers use to indicate the presence of land-mines. In Kideba, one of the registrars asked someone to go and register but he refused – he asked why the registration center was in a dangerous zone because he saw the tapes which usually indicate the presence of land-mines. It took a long time for people to understand that this was the place where they were supposed to register.”

Api added that a lack of transport is the biggest challenge faced by the voter registration team.

[Wilson Api John]: “The turn-out is very low. The officials who are supposed to be registering people are finding it hard to get to the registration centers. They do not have a means of transport - not even bicycles - therefore they are finding it hard to move around because the distance from the village to the registration centers is quite far. They have no means of transportation. They need at least a bicycle for them to get around.”

The commissioner of Mundri East, Wilson Api John, was speaking to Sudan Radio Service from Mundri.

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