As Census Crisis Explodes COPPP Rejects Results

As crisis over the controversial 2021 Mid-Term Housing and Population Census Provisional results continue to explode at all quarters, the Consortium of Progressive Political Parties (COPPP) has on Monday 6 June 2022 out rightly expressed its total rejection of the widely discredited 2021 Mid-Term Census provisional data.

The Consortium urged immediate positive collective actions from state and non-state actors including development partners to resolve the issue before it degenerates to a matter of national security concern.

COPPP has therefore toed the line with Civil Society Organizations and Sierra Leoneans across the globe in their continued condemnations of the flawed 2021 Mid-Term Census results, describing it as unworthy data with the highest proclivity of causing political tension in the country even ahead of the approaching June 24 2023 multi-tier elections.

The Consortium further charged that; “The results are neither credible nor usable contrary to the predictable expectation of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) which owes a vested interest in the botched census”, and added that the SLPP 2021 Mid-Term Census is peculiar in many respects. It said that the provisional data in question has aroused controversy with opposition around its objective, process, conduct and results from across political parties, CSOs and development partners.

COPPP said that Government in collaboration with the Statistician-General in arguing, and possibly convinced development partners that the Mid-term census was to correct certain anomalies in the 2015 census and derive reliable data for national development planning, which received number skepticisms from opposition parties.

COPPP added that some opposition parties and CSOs saw it as an unusual proposal to hold a census before the completion of the ten-year census cycle, thus described the move as part of a ploy by the SLPP to secure advantage over opposition parties in the 2023 elections.

One sign about this plan was noticed at the launch of the Strategic Plan of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) where it was indicated that although according to the calendar of the Commission, electoral boundary delimitation should be drawn in 2024, there was a chance that some “externalities” could change that: one of those “externalities” was given as the results of the mid-term census which could necessitate a carving of new districts and constituencies before the 2023 elections, COPPP press release observes.

COPPP described the Mid-Term census process as a shortcuts funded by the Government instead of following constitutional provisions, and recalled that opposition lawmakers questioned the procurement of some materials before the President’s Proclamation, which was imposed on parliament, that led to physical battle between the SLPP and the main opposition All People’s Congress MPs.

The Consortium called on good friends of Sierra Leone to stop the Government from using the discredited data for any purpose that may upset the peace and plunge the country into chaos again.

According to COPPP between 2015 and 2021 the combined population of the North East, North West and Western Area reduced by 236,779 whereas the combined population of the South and East increased by an additional 686, 214 and in Freetown, it declined by 43%.

The population increased by 50% whereas Bombali has been reduced by 36% followed by Koinadugu by 50% for which the COPPP notes the effects with several recommendations as follows:

Implications

1. Due to the insistence of Government to pursue its plan of conducting an unprecedented census against all the odds and technical advice, the whole exercise, judging by the provisional results, has turned out to be a complete failure.
2. Inasmuch as there is evidence of mass opposition and non-participation in the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing census, it cannot be described as a “population census”.
3. The provisional results are not credible and cannot be used meaningfully in any development plan or for the production of new electoral boundaries
4. Because SSL deliberately ignored the advice by partners and experts to wait and be better prepared before starting the counting exercise, this institution bears the greatest responsibility for the resources wasted thereupon.
5. If Government continues to seek to impose these false results on the country, it will be one more evidence of their unwillingness to embrace and practice democracy in Sierra Leone.

Recommendations

1. An investigation must be instituted in the form of a qualifications audit of all senior staff working on the census project, particularly those whose qualifications and competence are currently being questioned by a whistleblower and who had direct supervision and authority over policy, planning and handling of census data. The investigation may seek to establish to what extent their ineptitude may have impacted on the quality of the data and could explain the mediocrity of the provisional results.

2. Government must immediately issue a directive to the ECSL not to use the provisional census results as the basis for delimitation of boundaries and also through the Ministry of Development and Planning declare that these results are annulled.

3. Government should immediately engage opposition political parties, civil society organizations and international partners (particularly those that funded the census) to discuss the way forward so as to avert any negative repercussions of the failure of the census.
4. Government must expedite the payment of the census field staff, ensure that they are paid in full by SSL in order to avoid another industrial action, particularly if circumstances and factors not of their making could have contributed to their inability to complete their assigned tasks.
5. COPPP proposes that the results of any investigation into the census issue be published.