The National Election Watch (NEW), a coalition of local and international organizations in Sierra Leone which support free, fair, and peaceful elections has on Monday, October 26, 2020, put out a statement in which it stated that the deferment of the Mid-term census to April 2021 has a likelihood of affecting the general elections calendar of 2023.
NEW made this comment in a statement on Monday, after Statistics Sierra Leone’s recent postponement of the Mid-term Census from December 2020 to April 2021.
“According to law, National Election Commission (NEC) should have produced a voter register six months to elections which falls around 2022; consequently also, any data produced by a Mid-term Census will likely inform a Boundary Delimitation process that also has the tendency to affect the electoral calendar. This will come with additional financial requirements that would not necessarily have become an imperative at this time but will have been triggered by the legal consequences of this mid-term census,” NEW said in their statement.
According to NEW, this development underscores the demerits of this exercise as earlier recognized and published by NEW regarding inadequate planning, timeliness, involvement of stakeholders and relevance.
It could be recalled that on July 21, 2020, a proclamation for the conduct of a Mid-term population and Housing Census was made by His Excellency the President and slated for December 4th 2020. In his proclamation, the following reasons were advanced for the conduct of the first ever Mid-term Census in Sierra Leone. “…in order to help us plan properly, ensure equitable distribution of resources, and foster economic and social development, Government has decided to conduct a Mid-Term Population and Housing Census across the country this year.”
The President’s proclamation stated that “Data from this Mid-Term Population and Housing Census will undoubtedly inform and guide the implementation of various development programmes including the 2019-2023 Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.
In response to this proclamation, NEW issued a press statement on July 29th 2020, stating its position and concerns thereof: “NEW is concerned with the prioritization of this process NOW at a time when COVID-19 measures should be occupying the whole planning machinery and resources spent in that direction”. Another concern raised by NEW in the Press Statement was: “…Questions of non-inclusivity of all voices of the people (political groups, civil society etc.) as befitting democratic governance processes were abound and this announcement falls within that context”.
NEW further highlighted issues around the “ever-growing trends of government actions that keep casting shadows of doubt on critical governance events and processes as it sets a negative tone to future works”.
NEW believes that the outcome of a Mid-term Census to be held from April of 2021 will not be available for public use till 2022 when the country shall be holding Local Council Elections and General Elections in 2023.
“This presupposes that the outcome of this census will not add any value to the development planning of this government as espoused in the proclamation. No government will re-focus its Development Plans in the 4th year and yield the desired results when all attention would be shifted to campaigning and/or implementing its development agenda as a matter of priority,” NEW added.
NEW believes that service delivery should be prioritized instead.
NEW further recognizes that clarity is needed on the required funding for this exercise. They are of the view that “Questions abound on who ‘the external institutions are’ and what funding stream is available for this exercise and whether any funding instrument will be laid before parliament?”
NEW calls on development partners who have committed to this exercise to make public all financial, material and technical support. We would also want to know why our development partners funding the Mid-term Census have prioritized a Mid-term Census over other competing national priorities at the heart of the electorate, emphasizing that the deferment of the Mid-term census to April 2021 has a likelihood of affecting the general elections calendar of 2023.
In its press statement dated October 20, 2020, Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL) had stated that the postponement of the Mid-term census was due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the planned support from external institutions, noting that it has affected the movement of high-level technical personnel (International Consultants); and also procurement of digital materials required for the census.
“Though NEW recognizes that COVID-19 is still in existence, NEW is however not sufficiently convinced with this reason advanced, owing to the fact that the proclamation for the conduct of a Mid-term census was done at the height of the pandemic in the country. While in the same vein, NEW also premised its position on prioritizing the fight against COVID-19 pandemic as against conducting a Mid-term census at that critical time in our country,” NEW emphasized.
“Also, owing to the fact that SSL has already established structures to ensure the conduct of the Mid-term Census and these structures will continue to be supported until the COVID-19 situation is conducive enough for the international consultants to travel and live in Sierra Leone and in the absence of a predictable end to the COVID-19 pandemic, NEW therefore recommends a cancellation of the Mid-term Census at least for this 2022-2023 electoral cycle”.
NEW said that it believes in the spirit of the 1991 constitution which states: “Sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone from whom Government through this constitution derives all its powers.”
NEW reaffirms its commitment towards making governance processes participatory, inclusive, transparent and accountable to the people, pointing out that any continued pursuit of this futile exercise is a clear testimony of government’s abdication from the spirit and letter of this highly cherished constitutional provision. In order not to go against the spirit of the country’s hard-won democracy.
NEW reiterates its call for this exercise to be called off and the resources allocated to pressing national development issues.
By Stephen V. Lansana
30/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7940