By Mohamed T Massaquoi
A civil society activist in Pujehun has called for investigation of the district census officer over a missing computer.
The missing laptop computer is said to contain information on the ongoing 2015 National Population and Housing Census.
District Census Officer Sheku Soko Tarawally admitted that a computer he used as part of his work had gone missing from his office, during interviews conducted for applicants for the positions of enumerators, field officers and supervisors.
The 2015 census, which is scheduled for December, has already been the subject of debate amidst accusations of bias in terms of recruitment of enumerators and other field officers.
The alleged bias in recruitment has in turn raised concerns over the credibility of the outcome of the process.
Pujehun is a stronghold of the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party which has accused the All Peoples Congress-led government of seeking to manipulate the census outcome by favoring its supporters and sympathizers in employment positions relating to the census.
Accordingly, the interviews for applicants were conducted on different occasions. Tarawally could not say exactly when the computer went missing but he said it was during one of the interview sessions, in the presence of some of the applicants. The official told Politico that the computer in question was his personal property as the government did not give them any official computer to do their work.
But Francis Tokowah, Programme Coordinator for the Grass Root Ambassador for Better Sierra Leone, a Pujehun-based CSO, described the incident as “sabotage of national interest” and said thorough investigation was needed not just to retrieve the missing computer but also to know what exactly had happened.
“This act will contribute to undermine development process in the district,” he said.
Tokowah said news about the missing computer could even raise questions about the credibility of the census process.
“Our interest as civil society is not only to see the missing computer but to also investigate the reason for its missing,” he said.
“The missing of the computer sounds malicious, grudging and even negligence on the part of the district census officer. Weather found or not, civil society will not take it lightly,” he said.
Tarawally said 2000 people applied for the post of enumerator, over 400 for supervisor and more than 100 for the field officer position.
But the district census officer said the information contained in the computer were already in backups in a memory stick, a CD, as well as in other computers owned by his junior colleagues.
“In fact the information is also with my head office in Freetown.”
Tarawally attributed the disappearance of his computer to grudge informed by a desire to “debar” his growth.
“The people of Pujehun should not worry over anything as the actual work is going to be done for them,” he said, ruling out any suggestion that the incident was “politically motivated.”
(C) Politico Online 29/09/15
