By: Ibrahim Jalloh - (Jallomy)
Census is deliberate, intentional and purposeful. The institution of state charged with the responsibility to plan, conduct and report on Census is Statistics Sierra Leone. This responsibility is provided for by the Constitution of Sierra Leone. Census is periodic and the Constitution of the land say census should be conducted every ten years but, for the expediences of the processes of state governance, the same Constitution makes provision for the conduct of a Mid Term Census, the application of which today is throwing our small West African state into legislative chaos and anarchy.
The previous census was conducted in 2015 under the watch of retired president Ernest Bai Koroma. It was massively funded and monitored by many of our international development partners. The outcomes of that census were contestable and rancourous, to be moderate and to say the least. SLPP was in opposition and they raised the red flag, raised the political dust and their cries bellowed the skies but all came to nought. So, SLPP was never in agreement with the outcomes of the 2015 National census. Since they cannot reverse the trends, SLPP put the issue on the political parking lot of history and, I think, with the hope that one day and some day they will right the wrongs of that 2025 Census results.
In addition, key International development partners stood in awe and bewilderment but to succumb to diplomatic protocols, they kept mute. However, there were simmering discontent and it was noticed and noted by the then Chief Executive of State, Former President Koroma.
Census results can be productively or destructively utilized. The figures can be used for development planning purposes and the fair spread of national resources, among others. They can also be used to capture undemocratic political advantages of jerrymandering. Whatever the case, the outcomes of 2015 census were morally wrong and politically hopeless!
Five years later and with those that cried foul now in power, the moment of righting the wrongs of the 2015 census results is here and big.
Since the proclamation of the Mid Term Census by President Bio, the opposition parties, especially the main opposition APC, have been in unbridled stampede to defeat the need, purpose and timeliness of the process. The arguments, regrettably, were sterile and revealing of the pervasive political culture of denial.
The climax of the resistance to the Mid Term Census exploded early this week at a Parliamentary sitting to table the constitutional instrument that will grant "legality" and Parliamentary concurrence with the process. War sparked, hooliganism was undesirably displayed, the "Honourable" title disrobed and betrayed and an overall spirit of callous disengagement from state governance hangs on the air.
As electorates, we felt betrayed and grossly misrepresented. It was a complete leadership failure and perpetrators must not go unscathed.
We must run the state and allow the processes of state governance hold sway. Our democratic credentials cannot be eclipsed by the culture of "do or die" in politics.
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