Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics has maintained that conducting population census is not possible before the December 2024 elections.
The Revitalized Peace Agreement mandates the RTGoNU to conduct a National Population and Housing Census before the end of the Transitional Period.
The slated elections to signal end of the transition, are just six months away.
Dr. Augustino Ting Mayai says the government has approved the budget for the process but the Finance Ministry has not released the cash due to shortages.
“We know for fact that there is still a demand for census in order to inform elections but it is also known to a lot of people that the resources that are required for the census conduct has been approved but they have not been released because they don’t exist.
“The Ministry of Finance is not having enough resources. So, it’s not that the government is holding onto the resources, the resources are not there.
“We are waiting for revenues to come through and we begin with what is called planning and cartography process where we will put in place the committees at the County levels, at the State levels and also, we begin to map where people live and this is where cartography services,’ he said.
However, he said, even if adequate resources are made available today, he will need at least nine to sixteen months to roll out the exercise.
“All of these processes need about nine months to complete and given the fact that elections are basically not too far away.
“Even if resources were made available, I would like to reiterate this, as I said it last time, the census as mentioned will not be available at the time”.
Dr. Ting expresses his institution’s readiness to provide input to the government to inform all processes that are associated with the democratic transition.
But he said, this still requires resources.
“As far as the political process in the transition, the leadership will sit down and decide what is done, my role as the Executive Chief is to provide input when I am asked to do so, and I will need the resources to do so.
“… those resources when they are made available, the Bureau of Statistics stands ready to execute its mandate and we are happy to inform all the processes that are associated with this transition.”
In February, Dr. Ting suggested that the government can conduct elections for the Executive and the members of the Council of States while the Members of Parliament waits the census.
He also suggested for extension of the transitional period for three months to enable him have the census results in order to inform the electoral process but the time frame has relatively changed and that this needs over a year to implement.
Dr. Ting had also suggested for the usage of the 2008 census figures to inform the process if elections is to be conducted in December.
He also provided an option for the bio-metric registration if the government maintains December 2024 elections period.
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