The main opposition All People Congress (APC) party, the National Grand Coalition (NGC) and Unity Party have rejected the provisional results of the 2021 Mid-Term Housing and Population Census.
The population of Sierra Leone is estimated at 7,541,641, constituting 3,716,263 male and 3,825,378 female, according to the provisional results published by Statistics Sierra Leone.
There is a total increase of 449,528 people in Sierra Leone when compared to the 2015 Census figure, indicating a 6 percent increase in population.
The regional data shows that, Eastern Region recorded 1,939,122 people, North-East Region 1,316,831, North-West Region 1, 186,050, South Region 1, 830,881 and the Western Region 1, 268, 757.
The opposition parties said that the figures do not represent the population of Sierra Leone.
They said that many households were not counted. One of the results they questioned in that of Western Area Unban. The provisional results show that there are 606,701 people living in Western Area Urban who were counted. But the data from National electoral Commission shows that there were 606,939 registered voters for the 2018 elections. These figures show that more than half of households in Freetown were not counted during the Mid-term census.
The Chairman of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) Party, Dr. Denis Bright said his party will not accept the results because the Census was characterized by flaws.
He said that Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL) says that the district with the largest population in Sierra Leone today is Kenema with 772,472 inhabitants; there is an increase of 27% since 2015.
“Another interesting story from the census results is that in spite of the heavy rural-urban migration and the very visible swelling up of the city of Freetown (note that in recent years, even beggars from places like Kenema and Bo have flooded the streets of Freetown), the SLPP census claims that the population of urban Freetown has decreased by almost half since 2015, so urban Freetown now has fewer people than Kenema town!”
Dr Bright said that, another town that they say is more populated than Freetown is Bo. “According to the SLPP census there are 150,274 more people in Bo than in Freetown.”
He said that even Bonthe where the population was just over 200,000 people in 2015, the district has now boomed to nearly 300,000.
“Here is one more indication that this is just an SLPP adjustment, not a census. The numbers in areas considered to be SLPP strongholds have significantly increased whereas in opposition dominated areas they been significantly reduced. The populations in the North West, North East and Western Regions have altogether dropped by 236,799 whereas the South and Eastern regions have been credited with an additional 685,214 people. Crazy, isn’t it?”
Dr Bright said that it is abundantly clear from the above that the census was brewed specifically to favour the chances of the ruling SLPP regime in the forthcoming election.
He asserted that the Mid-Term Housing and Population Census (MTHPC) was done because of political reasons rather than national development interest.
Representative of the main opposition All People Congress (APC) party, Dr. Richard Conteh said that his party will not accept the results of the mid-tern census.
Dr Conteh said the leadership of the Party will communicate the line of action they will take if the government precedes with the boundary delimitation using the results of mid-term census.
He added that they will not allow the creation of more districts, constituencies and wards using the results of the mid-term census because it’s flaws.
The Leader of the Unity Party, Femi Claudius Cole said that the results of mid-term census is not credible and they will not accept it.
By George M.O. Williams