Liberia: Census Postponed Again
.... Senate agrees to President's request for Joint Resolution, which grants LISGIS's request to have the Census pushed back by two weeks.
The Senate has voted to approve a joint resolution from the House of Representatives postponing the conduct of the National Population and Housing Census, which is the country's first in 14 years.
The Senate’s decision came after the House a fortnight ago, met in close door session with authorities of the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) and the head of Liberia's Census Fund the UNFPA to have the census, which should have kicked-off on October 24 postponed to November 7.
The decision, according to the House, was meant to ensure that LISGIS addresses all the irregularities preceding the conduct of the census by November 22. So far, the conduct of the 2022 census has been marred by claims of corruption against LISGIS officials, and anomalies such as poor scheduling, ineffectiveness, and inefficiency in enumerator training, and so on.
The issue of enumerators' selections and the ensuing controversy then forced LISGIS and the UNFPA to request for the census to be pushed back for two weeks so as to enable lapses in the census enumerators' recruitment process.
The Senate’s vote yesterday means that the census will now begin on November 7. Since 2008, Liberia has been unable to conduct another round of census, despite the fact that one is planned every 10 years under the Liberian Constitution of 1986. This census is also projected to produce new constituencies in the run-up to the Liberian general and presidential elections in 2023.
According to the United Nations Population Division, censuses are important national undertakings to assess the true size of a nation’s population, its growth rate and distribution, the education levels, and determine other social-economic development indicators.
The country’s most recent census registered a total count of 3.5 million. In addition to the 2008 census, three national censuses have been conducted beginning in 1962 (1.1m), 1974 (1.5m), and 1984 (2.1m) respectively. The country, therefore, has reasonable experience in conducting censuses.
With the new technology adopted for the conduct of the current 2022 census, it is the expectation that the entire census timeline will be completed early. And with the census results in hand in the next couple of months ahead, Liberia must begin to plan how to tap into the benefits of demographic dividend.
Meanwhile, President George Weah, yesterday informed the Senate of the challenge LISGIS faced in conducting the 2022 census across the country as per the initial date — warranting the change in date.
Additionally, the President informed the Senate that LISGIS has been preparing and working assiduously to meet the census timeline, as substantial financial, logistical, technical, and administrative arrangements have been put into place for the conduct of a successful census.
Weah noted that said preparations have however experienced unforeseen logistical and technical challenges around the country and that this will require additional time to conduct the census.