Sierra Leone census off to a rocky start

Political tensions have been aggravated by a midterm census scheduled to begin today (10 December). The World Bank, a major partner, has told the government that it would no longer provide financial or technical support for the census because agreed steps have not been taken to adequately prepare for it. Meanwhile, a number of opposition leaders have either been arrested or questioned by police for purportedly opposing the government’s decision to organise this census. Opposition MPs also protested in parliament yesterday and the main opposition party has instructed its members to boycott the count. They claim the proper legislative procedure has not been followed, and question the government’s motives as the country prepares for general elections in 2023.

Significance – Precedent and now

There were fistfights between MPs of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and MPs of the All Peoples Congress (APC) when the justice minister Anthony Brewah sought parliamentary approval for the census in April. This tension resurged after President Maada Bio announced the census dates last month. Since then, the APC has been mobilising opposition against the census in the north and northwest regions most associated with its supporters. In response, police have arrested a number of the party’s leaders there and questioned the chairman of the National Grand Coalition party, Dennis Bright, who has criticised the government’s plans on radio.

President Bio has said this census is being held to ‘correct the anomaly’ of the 2015 census, which was held when the APC was in power and was subsequently faulted by observers such as the Carter Centre. The 2015 census was used to change electoral boundaries and create new constituencies before the 2018 general elections. Civil society reports also say that census officials were hired based on partisan interests, that population figures were inflated in APC strongholds and that Statistics Sierra Leone organised its processes in a way that ultimately benefitted the APC as the then-ruling party.[1] Now, the APC and other opposition parties have raised similar claims about the SLPP government’s motives for organising another census five years after the last one – and around a year before fresh general elections.

Outlook – Electoral process

Authorities are advancing with the census despite the World Bank pullout, but its outcomes will be scarred by this technical and financial setback and will call into question the credibility of the electoral process. It will also further strain the political environment in the interim, undermining the process of policymaking and legislation.

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[1] Sierra Leone expert mission report (March 2018). The Carter Center.

Photo credit. Bunting Kargbo

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