The long-awaited and much-desired 2025 census has been put on hold owing to insufficient preparation including funding constraint.

Minister of Planning and Economic Development says “the current preparation on the ground is not enough to conduct the census.” The census, according to the Minister, will be held next year although no date has been slated.

Kenyeh Barlay made the statement during a radio interview adding that the advice came from international experts. By practice over the years, census in Sierra Leone is conducted after every 10 years to get data that helps government plan well for the people’s well-being. The previous census was held in 2015 and 2025 is the actual date for another census as preparations were ongoing at Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL), an agency responsible to conduct the exercise. This time is however different as government seems cash-strapped and find it difficult to carry out the exercise.

Funding the nationwide headcount could be the most challenging side as government cannot single-handedly fund such a financially demanding venture without help from development partners-World Bank, European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others.

It is clear that even if the census holds, these institutions might not pour their resources into such exercise as government faces funding cut owing to the controversial June 24, 2023 elections. The main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) alleged several irregularities, a claim that gained wide support from local and international election observers-ECOWAS, African Union, Commonwealth, EU, Carter Centre and G7+ among others.

If they go by their stance, Development Partners would finance the census only if government genuinely implement the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee, a body set up to look into the alleged election malpractices that eclipsed the June polls. The much-expected census is one such national exercise that has suffered a fatal blow owing to shortage of funds.

According to Observers in the media and the public, government would have still not enjoyed wide public support and cooperation as public opinion holds that the ruling party, Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) lacks the mandate to rule as the votes in their favour do not reflect the will of the majority.

It has been constantly argued that it is a way of legitimizing the party in power if they participate in the census.

Thus, the census will not be census if the people who are the key targets fail to take part in it. Census in Sierra Leone,  whatever its form or nomenclature, is always viewed with lenses coloured by ethno-regional politics- South-Easterners would suspect an APC government of gerrymandering if it intends to hold a census regardless of all legality and fairness in the process.

This suspicion could be water-tight as it was out of the 2015 National Census that two districts and one region emerged in the North of Sierra Leone: Falaba, Karene and Northwest region. The emergence of the two new districts and the region is a big foul play according to South-Easterners who argue that Northern region lacks the population figures to have such geographical locations in their favour.

In response, APC, then ruling party responded that there was a high population in Northern communities particularly in Lunsar and Ferengbeya in PortLoko and Tonkolili respectively owing to the Iron Ore boom.

Similarly, Northerners also would suspect an SLPP government of inflating census figures to have new districts and regions to their political advantage if a census is conducted. Such suspicion was the main factor responsible for boycotting the 2021 Mid-Term Census declared by government.

The dark clouds hanging on the current postponed headcount mirrors the aborted 2021 Mid-Term Census which was boycotted by those in the North-West regions widely seen as opposition strongholds. Only a handful of North-Westerners took part in the Mid-Term Census with many arguing that, by practice, it was illegal.

The argument is anchored on the notion that census is held after every 10 years, and Sierra Leone has never held a Mid-Term Census.

On the other side, those in the South-East regions, heartlands of the ruling party threw their weight behind the census as they see it as a big advantage for them.

The data from the Mid-Term Census was heavily criticised as Kenema, one of Sierra Leone’s smallest districts had more population than Western Area-Urban which hosts the nation’s capital city. The Mid-Term census figures in Kenema outnumbered two districts put together in the Northern region, a factor that generated arguments related to the ruling party’s move to influence the past June elections.

But, it was unclear whether government used the figures for any development planning as then Statistician-General, Professor Osman Sankoh was subsequently removed from office.

Apart from lack of public support and cooperation, the census was bitterly bashed at by civil society activists and APC politicians including former President Ernest Bai Koroma.

They all shared similar views that “the census lacked consensus” and that it was highly recommended that government should hold more consultations on the census to get public acceptance.

 In the lingering debate, ex-President Koroma remarked that “let no political arrogance and professional dishonesty undermine the Mid-Term Census.”

Such debate also crystallized within some circles of the international community as World Bank, IMF and EU withdrew support from the census exercise owing to the public backlash. Despite lack of support and cooperation from the public and international community, government went ahead with the exercise but with a heavy cost.

Census officers were attacked in some communities, and some of their gadgets either destroyed or stolen. Such incidents were not uncommon in the Northern region where the census resistance was quite too strong.

In PortLoko town, the bedroom of a census officer was broken into carting away tablets, computers and other logistics meant for the census exercise.

Police intervened but many said the actual thieves escaped, and these challenges were the main causes that made the public doubt the data derived from the headcount.

The census authority, SSL also faced big-time challenges in the payment of ad hoc staff employed by the agency for the Mid-Term Census. For months, Freetown’s SSL premises were turned into battlefields as police and the unpaid staff embarked on running battles.

Police fired teargas canisters while the disgruntled census workers retaliated with stones, sticks, pebbles and other missiles.

Such sceneries prevailed for months and halted only after the staff got their stipends. It was somewhat a victory for government but a costly one, and this time they would not like to see it happen.