GANTA, Nimba – Rep. Larry P. Younquoi, the chair of the Good Governance Committee at the House of Representatives, has said that the government is likely to postpone the National Housing and Population Census this year.

The census was due to take place in November this year but according to Younquoi, during a recent interview in Ganta, it will be delayed because of a lack of resource.

The constitution requires the legislature to conduct a census every ten years. The last census was conducted in 2008, under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Younquoi said Liberia needs an estimated US$19 million to conduct the census although donors are helping to cover a significant portion.

“The government only needs to look for US$6 million and the United Nations is going to provide the rest of the US$13 million,” Younquoi said. “But because we don’t have this money now, that is why we are pushing it to the 21^st of November, 2019.”

Younquoi said postponing the census requires a joint agreement and resolution by the National Legislature. He said he has already drafted and submitted a copy of the resolution calling for the postponement of the census to the Committee on Judiciary Affairs. That document needs the signatures of two-thirds of the members of the both houses to make the postponement legitimate.

The data produced by the census will be used to redraw the boundaries of electoral districts.

“If we need to have legitimate data to use for the 2023 constituency demarcation, we need to do it the right way,” said Younquoi, who represents Nimba’s eighth electoral district.

He also said the census data would be necessary to assist the country in fiscal budget planning.

“I, being a demographer, know the importance of this census,” Younquoi said. “This census is important because it will help us to know what to put in the budget for health, education, agriculture and the rest of the other areas of the budget.”

Featured photo by Denise Miller