Liberian President George Weah has dismissed the head of the country’s statistical agency, just days into the commencement of the country’s much delayed census.
The Director General of the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Wilmot Smith and his Deputy Director General for Statistics and Data Processing, Alex M. Williams were shown the exit for administrative reasons, according to a statement from the presidency. Mr Smith, who was serving in acting capacity, had come under heavy criticism for his handling of the census process that has been marred by allegations of corruption and irregularities.
The Executive Mansion, the office of the Liberian president, announced the sacking of the duo in a statement dated November 14th and issued from the French capital, Paris, where President Weah was visiting. Lawrence George, the Deputy Director General for Administration of the agency, was appointed to act as Director General, according to the statement.
The 2022 National Population and Housing Census, which runs from 11 to 22 November, is the fifth census since Liberia gained independence in 1847, and it is the second since the end of the country’s 12-year bloody civil war.
The Liberian constitution provides for the conduct of census every 10 years. The last census was done in 2008. The next scheduled census in 2018 was postponed due to unspecified reasons. Since then, the process had been postponed for a total of five times, partly due to Covid-19 but also due to resource constraints.
The sacking of Mr Smith on Monday followed an appeal by the government and its partners for cooperation by the public to ensure the smooth conduct of the exercise. That followed calls for boycott by some of the people hired and trained to conduct the enumeration exercise, who are unhappy over unpaid wages.
In what is the first digital census to be conducted in the country, the enumerators were deployed in over 13,000 Enumeration Areas across the country’s 15 counties (districts). Reports on Friday indicate that many Liberians were disappointed after sitting at home fruitlessly waiting to be counted. President Weah had declared the day public holiday to mark the commencement of enumeration.
But the president was himself criticized for spending census night outside the country.
The Government and its partners in the joint statement on Friday evening said the process was on course despite the poor start. The statement signed by representatives of UNFPA, World Bank, Embassy of Sweden and USAID sought to appeal to the public for cooperation, citing the importance of a population and housing census to the development of the country. It warned that any further disruption could lead to further delays and possible abortion of the process,
“We have observed with dismay calls by some elements within the country to boycott the Census. Despite some initial challenges, the Census is now on track and has commenced as of 11 November, 2022,” the statement read.
