“Mohamed Mubashir MASSAQUOI does not wait for citizens to find the system. He instead, sends the system to them!” Recalls Yei Mamie, who was worried that she could be denied access to many social services as she cannot walk to Pujehun town to get one – particularly at age 68!

The joy and gratitude she expressed when the NCRA Mobile team reached their remote community in Barri Chiefdom cannot be overemphasized. At a single request, an NCRA mobile registration team arrived by motorbike, to a nearby village, walking their way to other communities to provide ID services. Not long after, the farmers, the petty traders, the old, young, disabled, had their National Identities that connects them to banking, voting, taxation, and social protection for life and many other critical services.

And no, this activity has never been a one-off campaign. It has become a standard operating model for the National Civil Registration Authority under MASSAQUOI’s guidance since his appointment in 2018. With 93 % Registration coverage of Sierra Leone’s 8million plus residents, many, now possess a verified digital identity, which meets one of the highest standard ratings on the continent. For a country that has steadily recovered from the civil war and Ebola and COVID pandemic, these achievements at the NCRA are nothing short of state reconstruction.

MASSAQUOI’s Career Built on Crisis and Delivery

MASSAQUOI’s path to the NCRA was forged in Sierra Leone’s darkest hours. As Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration, he helped disarm and reintegrate 78,000 ex-combatants, which laid the foundation for lasting peace. In 2004, he was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, serving as a UN International Technical Assistance Expert, tasked to manage logistics and security for the country’s first democratic elections under Taliban threat.

Back home, Mr. MASSAQUOI has served as Elections Logistics and Security Head at the National Electoral Commission until 2007, then as Program Implementation Coordinator for UNFPA and later Program Specialist at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation’s Integrated Health Projects Administration Unit (IHPAU). In each of these roles, he coordinated multimillion-dollar donor programmes with zero financial scandals. This is a rarity in post-conflict governance.