The United Sates Ambassador to Liberia, Michael McCarthy, says the National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) process has started and is ongoing across Liberia.
Though the US Emissary recognized that there were many issues and hiccups which characterized the start, he acknowledged that the census has begun and is ongoing.
Making the revelation at a press conference Monday, November 14, 2022 at the U.S. Embassy near Monrovia, the U.S. Diplomat did not name some of the counties where the census process has started but when quizzed by journalists said, “I have asked many people if they saw enumerators and was told they have not met a single person but, howbeit, the process started in some counties on Friday.”
“We also understood that there were hiccups in Montserrado County and because of that, some of the counties haven’t started yet and we don’t know when it will start but it will definitely happen,” Amb. McCarthy told journalists.
The US diplomat said, “I have the record but did not bring it along with me. I can assure you that the process started in like three counties; although I don’t remember those counties, I remember that Montserrado was one of the delayed counties.”
However, Ambassador McCarthy further observed that the long-awaited census is an important, non-political action required in the Liberian constitution and thereby called on opposition politicians in the country to ask their supports not to disrupt the census.
He stressed that the ongoing census, which the U.S. government and other Intentional partners are heavily supporting, will contribute towards the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections come 2023.
“It is so important for Liberia to have this census, get it done, and do it right. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s very important for the census to move forward,” the US Ambassador said.
The NPHC was scheduled to have commenced nationwide on November 11, 2022, but due to the alleged failure of authorities of the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) to provide “sitting fee” of US$50 each and equipment to the enumerators and supervisors they recruited for the exercise, the process was postponed to a later date.
In spite of what appeared to be the failed commencement of the census, a well-placed source among the recruited enumerators informed this paper that their decision to boycott the commencement of the census in Montserrado and other parts of the country is attributed to the lack of trust in LISGIS to pay their previous sitting fees and the remaining amount after the completion of the work.
According to our source, since the end of the enumerators’ training more than a week ago, LISGIS is yet to pay their “sitting fee.”
They claimed that they were told by the facilitators that the sitting fee was stipulated to US$10 per day, but was unjustifiably reduced to US$5 per day instead of the US$10.
They added, “We were trained for 10 days but up to now we have not gotten a dime for our sitting fees. And now that the President has announced the commencement of the process, we aren’t going on the field until our money can be paid.”
However, this paper reliably learned that Authorities of LISGIS late Friday evening announced the payment of fees to those recruited for the census via mobile money service. The amount of US$25 or its Liberian Dollars equivalent was being sent to some of those recruited.
Nevertheless, the ongoing quote-on-quote ongoing census is long overdue, as the last census in Liberia was conducted in 2008, during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Article 39 of the 1986 Liberian Constitution states, “The Legislature shall cause a census of the Republic be undertaken every ten years,” thereby putting the execution of this year’s census in violation of the above constitutional provision.
Therefore since 2018, the process has suffered several setbacks, ranging from reported acts of corruption involving authorities at LISGIS, lack of funding, poor planning over the time frame as well as training of enumerators among others.
