The Right to Vote
In a country devastated by civil war for almost half of the last century, the government has no accurate information on many of its citizens. The upcoming independence referendum is already complicated enough, but how to ensure that those registering to vote actually have the right to do so?
Katherine Morbe (left) and Khemis Hassan (right) at the Kator Payam voter registration centre in Juba are charged with this role. They are “community identifiers”, and have been working at this centre every day since the registration started. They know everybody in their district, they say, and so it is these social links that ensure that the residents of Hai Kosti can break through the bureaucratic barrier, and obtain what is possibility their first piece of formal identification in their life.
Know thy neighbour.