FAKE HOLIDAY IN CENSUS’S NAME

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4 Mins Read

By Joseph Tumbey 

After declaring  Friday November 12 as  Holiday for the National  Census , the government  of Liberia  postponed the process  for January  15, 2023 and   secretly   released information  on the eve of the day without  publication  that kept  all public and private  operation  closed while the entire  Country  observed  the day  as Holiday home  expecting  to be counted. 

While Citizens  were home awaiting  the  Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo- Information  Services Enumerators to conduct  the 2022 Census  slated  on Friday November 12, 2022, non was spotted  across  the Country  throughout  the day, 

On the official  commencement day which  was declared  as a public  holiday  across  the Country,     the day became  dramatic  as Citizens  across  the Country  waited  at homes but couldn’t see neither  LISGIS  enumerators nor Supervisors. 

Over the failed  commencement of the Counting process  to  determine the Country  population  with related  issues,  huge  crowd of citizens  claiming  to be the very  ones  to have done  the job  gathered  at LISGIS headquarters  in Monrovia  on the same day instead  of taking  their assignment  in various  communities  across  the  Country  to conduct  their enumeration  process .

Given the reasons  for their actions,  they blamed  the government of Liberia  through  LISGIS  for failing not only the Citizens  but their International  partners. 

According  to them,  LISGIS  ealy lied to them to pay each  Enumerator UD$10 per day  during  their ten days training  process  but later harmonized  their pay US$5 but yet to receive  pay since  the process was  completed  over a month. 

Mr. Darwin Jlogbe, one of the  Enumerator  told our Reporter that the Association of 2022 Census  Enumerator told  the public  ealy  that the Commencement of the Census  was a fiasco  but the government  went about declaring  meaningless  holiday  in the name of a successful mechanism in place to have the process  done smoothly. 

“We were to receive UD$100 for our ten days sitting but they dropped it to UD$50 which  we are struggling  to receive.

Moreover,   last night  was  a Census  night  where every  supervisor  and Enumerator  was to receive  the full kit including  our digital  devices,  notepads  ,jackets   to start  the enumeration  process  and communities engagement  but LISGIS  failed in all  to providing   the kits”, LISGIS  2022 Census Enumerator  Mr. Darwin Jlogbe asserted. 

However,  the Liberia  Finance and Development Planning Minister  Samuel D. Tweah Jr. late Friday  evening  paid a short visit at the LISGIS  headquarters  in the midst of the Census  saga but, couldn’t  respond  to the Media  during  the heated  interrogation. 

After  Minister  Tweh despatched  the LISGIS headquarters  in Monrovia,  a    release  was published on social  media  stating  that, the 54th  National Legislature has passed a joint resolution 003/2022, authorizing the Executive Branch to extend the conduct of the National census from November 7, 2022, up to January 15, 2023.

According  to their  release,  the  plenary of both houses took the decision last evening which  was Thursday  November 11 ahead  of the Census day  to afford the appropriate authority to ensure adequate preparation.

The release  stated,  the Executive Branch of the Government of the Republic of Liberia is hereby authorized to immediately proceed with all activities leading to the conduct of the National Census following the passage of Joint Resolution #003/2022.

“The Honorable House of Representatives has appropriated an additional amount of US$200,000 to  Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information  Services LISGIS to address the current challenges that the body is faced with”,  the  release acknowledged. 

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