JOB Accuses StatisticSL And President Koroma Of Manipulating Census Results To Favour APC

 A former Chairman and Leader of the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and flag bearer aspirant for the 2018 presidential election has said Statistic Sierra Leone in cohorts with the Ernest Bai Koroma led administration deliberately manipulated the Sierra Leone Population and Housing Census Provincial Report in the interest of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) as strategy to influence boundary, constituencies and wards delimitation process across the country so that the APC will continue to govern.

Oponjo Benjamin, speaking on last Saturday, in a press conference at his Campbell Street office in Freetown, after President Koroma launched the provisional census result, accused Statistics Sierra Leone of deliberately excluding opposition political parties from the entire census process, adding that the provincial report should be vigorously monitored by civil society activists, political party representatives and the citizens of Sierra Leone, as the data failed to present a clear picture of the actual population of the country.

 “This statistical report is cooked in the interest of government and it will not be acceptable by us as opposition parties in this country. I am calling on all and sundry to critically examine the report and protest against it.

We have questioned the process from start; I knew it was going to come out like this. I have said times without number that the APC is not doing all of these in the interest of the country but for their selfish personal gains,” fumed the firebrand opposition politician.

He said: “In the first place, I was Minister of Finance and Economic Development during the SLPP era; my administration never interfered with issues dealing with statistics, but when the APC administration took over power they immediately removed the Statistician General, Professor Laurence Kamara. This was done by the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Richard Conteh.”

Statistician General, Mohamed King Koroma, however said the census targeted all residents in Sierra Leone as evident in the outcome of the data collection. He said census has three distinct phases, which includes preparatory phase, enumeration and post enumeration phase, adding that his institution did a diligent work to produce the provincial report.

“The implementation of the census is being carried out within a robust governance framework that involves committees like the National Advisory Committee, UNFPA, DFID, Irish Aid and UNDP,” he said and added that all the aforementioned international bodies are in agreement that the census was credible.

According to the provisional result released by Statistics Sierra Leone yesterday, which was launched by President Koroma, Sierra Leone’s population increased from just over 4million in 2004 to 7,075,641 in 2015, with 49.1% representing men and 50.9% women.

The northern region, stronghold of the ruling party, reportedly has the highest population in the country, with 2, 502.805, ahead of the densely populated Western Area, which has 1,493,252. The eastern region recorded 1,641,012, while the southern region registered 1,438,572.