By Lewis S Teh
A representative hopeful from Montserrado County electoral district# 9 Forbie Henry, has described the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Service (LISGIS) as a useless and unserious government institution.
“I think the LISGIS in recent times appears to be the most useless entity that we have and it’s unfortunate that they can’t manage a basic process”.
His comments are predicated on circumstances leading to delays in the conduct of the national population and housing census.
“If you’re not prepared for something, don’t give people hope; there have been too many push backs, this census should have been in 2018 but it was pushed from that time to now; it has been four years plus delay and yet, it can’t be conducted”, he notes.
Mr. Henry made the observation recently while speaking to scores of supporters in the district when he declared his ambition to represent them, adding that nothing will hamper his dream even if the census is not conducted before elections in 2023.
The census will not impact the conduct of next year’s elections, regardless of the census, we will still have voter registration, he said.
According to him, it is the voter registration process that will determine the number of voters or candidate percentage and their support base.
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Forbie stated that it is unfortunate that the National Elections Commission and the Public Procurement Concession Commission would fight over who becomes the vendor and who gets the ten percent, but “we hope they settle that dispute soon.”
The outcome of the ensuing National Population and Housing Census risks being inadequate, as a result of growing wave of disenchantments and misunderstanding that continue to characterize the entire process.
The conduct of the census, which was lastly scheduled for October 24, has suffered series of setbacks, ranging from allegations of corruption involving authorities at the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Service (LISGIS), irregularities, including poor timing, ineffectiveness, and inefficiency in the training of enumerators, among others.
The just-ended training for enumerators was marred by controversies, protests, and disenchantments across the country.
The failure of LISGIS to provide feeding, timely transportation reimbursement, and lodging for those who attended the training triggered civil disobedience and protests recently in the various counties, stalling regular movement of people, goods and services. Editing by Jonathan Browne
