Statistics Sierra Leone has announced that it is winding down activities in the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing Census (MTPHC) as it approaches the end of its mop-up exercise which started at the end of December.
A statement from the national statistical agency said the mop-up exercise will come to an end on Sunday 13th February, six weeks after it commenced. It added that the winding down period will start immediately throughout the country.
After several delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, enumeration in the MTPHC finally commenced on December 10 and lasted for an initial period of two weeks.
The exercise was however fraught with challenges largely due to a boycott announced by the main opposition All Peoples Congress, which deemed the census process as a political move by the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party.
As a result, Stats SL enumerators were initially refused access in some opposition dominated parts of the country.
The agency said it used the mop up exercise to intensify enumeration in outstanding communities where enumeration had been either slow or not carried out due to resistance and other logistical issues.
Several reasons were forwarded for the conduct of the first mid-term census in the country, topmost of which is to rectify errors attributed to the last census in 2015.
This is also the first time ever Sierra Leone has conducted census using the Computer Assisted Personal Interview. The country became one of five countries which have or are conducting a CAPI based census, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana and Liberia.
Sierra Leone is also one of the first three countries in Africa to be conducting its census using the CAPI system, after Kenya and Ghana.
In its statement issued on Thursday, Stats SL reiterated its commitment to ensure that everyone in Sierra Leone is counted.
“As we wind down the People’s Census, we will leave no willing household behind,” the statement signed by Statistician General and Chief Census Officer, Prof. Osman Sankoh, states.
Stats SL also said that in spite of challenges, it was able to cover a “significant” part of the country.
“The public would be thrilled to hear that in the past few weeks, a growing number of people have visited Stats SL HQ and our district offices and requested to be counted. This is gratifying because in some of the communities they come from, our enumerators were not initially welcomed,” it said.
According to the statement, Stats SL will use to next phase of the exercise to verify completeness of coverage in all districts, sync all data on remaining tablets, collect all electronic tablets and power banks from enumerators, and conclude payment of all field staff. In this regard, it has urged its field staff to submit their bank details to enable timely payment.
Prior to the commencement of the exercise, field staff who are hired on temporary basis were give 30 percent of their remuneration in advance to enable them deploy in their respective locations. The remaining 70 percent is what they are planning to pay.
Stats SL however warned that only field staff who have their work certified as complete would be paid first.
Meanwhile, the tollfree line – 881 – which was introduced to enable people report if their household have not been counted remains open, according to the agency.
