Claim: A Facebook user Prime Salome claims the Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone participates in electoral fraud by registering minors to vote in the election. He shared images of minors voters’ cards and accused the commission of wanting to aid the People’s Party Presidential Candidate, Julius Maada Bio, to win the election.
FINDING
According to IVerify, a website operated by the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) and the Independent Radio Network (IRN-SL), the images are doctored.
In the report, the Head of Media and Communication at the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), Raymond George, revealed that after an examination, the only issues they encountered were mismatched and faceless photos on the cards.
Even though a reverse image search could not trace the image on the ID cards, a red flag on the cards was that they all had the same date of birth, March 3, 2005. If the ages are anything to go by, these ID cards should be part of the newly registered voters whose cards were distributed early this year for the elections, as captured in a news report here.
However, the images on the cards appear younger than 18-year-olds, and the voter card does not appear recent.
Verdict: False.
Author: Kennedy Twumasi
