A vital but under-valued service

 THE 2011 census is conti­nuing in some parts of the country, according to information from the National Statistical Office. 

This is two weeks after it was scheduled to have been completed. 

In this country, the national population count and survey takes place every 10 years. The last one was in 2000. 

If a government department, which is only required to carry out its function once a decade, cannot perform its duty, then serious questions must be asked of the people who run this office. 

Earlier this week, former director of the national population and housing census office Bernard Kiele lamented the inefficient and incompetent handling of the enumeration process. Be reminded that the count was supposed to have taken place last year, which would have been the proper end of the last 10-year cycle. 

However, due to reasons not made clear by the office at the time, the census was pushed forward to this year. 

Given the additional time, one would have thought that an operation, which is similar in size and scope to that of a general election but without the inherent difficulties, would have been manageable at the least. This has not been the case as the whole process has been made to look rushed and, in some places, muddled and ineffectual. 

This should be of grave concern to everyone, particularly lawmakers and national bodies such as provincial governments and state departments. The number of people in each age bracket, the number of employed or self-employed individuals, school-aged children and the elderly are just some of the statistics listed. 

The health, education, works and agriculture sectors are just a handful of the areas of a country that make use of population figures. Without information on population growth and distribution, the government cannot properly formulate plans to regulate economic growth, job creation, food production, emergency response and disaster relief and many other important services that rely in part on accurate and reliable information. 

Anecdotal evidence has the NSO having been mana­ged on an ad hoc basis in the years leading up to the census. It is precisely this blasé attitude that has borne the mess we are now seeing unfolding in regards to the 2011 census. 

Kiele was quoted as saying it is unprecedented for a census to have gone beyond its schedule by such a long period. He said 90% of the country’s population was supposed to be counted within a week from the night of the census. 

Indeed, he has even gone as far as labelling it a national disgrace. 

He criticised the NSO’s shedding of experienced officers as one of the contributing causes of the current pro­blem. “The NSO has removed all the experienced personnel including technical experts from overseas and replaced them with untrained and inexperienced people. That’s why this census is a disaster.” 

Will the census be completed in reasonable time, and, will the information tendered be accurate? 

These are questions on the first stage of the census only, but they will ultimately determine the effectiveness of the preceding programmes, plans and budgets based on the census numbers. Any number of scenarios can be thought up to see how and why census information can be used for developmental purposes. 

But the real threat lies in what can happen without the availability of such information. 

This year’s census director Hajily Kele chose not to dwell on the criticism of her predecessor, saying the census exercise was “progressing well for most provinces” despite some logistical pro­blems. Of the 334 local level governments in the country, only five were yet to be completed while the rest are into the mop-up phase.  

But Kiele has warned that, in terms of the validity of the information collected, “this should be used with a lot of caution”. 

The national census is a task of massive proportions at the best of times and, therefore, it should be given priority in a rapidly developing country such as Papua New Guinea. 

If the government fails to keep abreast of population figures, and the general growth of the country, then, we can be sure that the next decade of development would see an increase of unplanned and blind spending of resources to cater for the effects of lack of accurate information.

We repeat our call. Somebody must be held accountable and, if heads must roll, so be it.