By Sheriff Mahmud Ismail
Friday, 16 May 2025: The All People’s Congress (APC) has reaffirmed its support for a transparent, development-oriented national census, while voicing concerns over the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP)’s alleged politicisation of the process.
At a press conference in Freetown, senior APC officials, including National Deputy Chairman Amb. Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh and Census Technical Committee Chairman Comrade Leonard Balogun Koroma, condemned the postponement of the 2025 Population and Housing Census to 2026. They argued that the delay serves a political agenda—potentially impacting electoral boundaries and obstructing the return to a constituency-based electoral system, as recommended by the Tripartite Committee.
“Our concern is about integrity, not just timelines,” Yansaneh asserted. “Census data must drive national development, not political expediency.”
Despite its criticism, the APC emphasized its commitment to ensuring a credible process. The party has established its own Census Technical Committee to provide oversight and collaborate with stakeholders, including Statistics Sierra Leone. Koroma urged development partners to remain vigilant, warning that their support must not validate incompetence or political interference.
Recalling the controversy surrounding the 2021 mid-term census, Koroma cautioned against repeating past mistakes. The APC referenced the January 2025 UN Technical Assessment Mission, which exposed major gaps in preparation—missing project documentation, incomplete cartographic work, delayed recruitment, and a $30.5 million funding shortfall. The party views these shortcomings as deliberate political maneuvers.
Legal experts within the APC, including Secretary General Lansana Dumbuya Esq., highlighted constitutional concerns. They argued that any census results published less than 24 months before the 2028 general election should not be used for boundary delimitation—effectively blocking constituency-based voting.
Koroma reassured that the APC is not opposing the census itself, but rather its manipulation. “Sierra Leone needs reliable data to inform policies on health, education, and development. Let’s ensure a process that serves the people—not political interests.”
Census exercises in Sierra Leone have historically been fraught with political sensitivities, with the last full census conducted in 2015 and the 2021 mid-term count drawing skepticism. Experts, including Prof. Joseph Ayee of the University of Ghana, have warned that censuses in transitional democracies often carry political implications that must be managed with transparency.
As the process unfolds, the APC’s call for oversight and integrity places renewed pressure on Statistics Sierra Leone and the government to ensure professionalism and accountability. If conducted fairly, the census has the potential to become a genuine instrument of national development rather than political contention.