AYV News, May 16, 2025
Sierra Leone’s main opposition, the All People’s Congress (APC) Party will today, May 16, meet the press to address the implications of the postponement of the December 2025 Decennial National Population and Housing Census to December 2026.
APC’s National Publicity Secretariat, Mohamed pope Kamara said the Technical Committee for the 2025–2026 National Population and Housing Census, in collaboration with the APC National Secretariat, will use the meeting to address the implications at New Brookfields Hotel in Freetown.
The event, he assured, will provide the Party’s official statement on the rescheduling of the census, its implications for national planning, and the APC’s recommendations to ensure a seamless and inclusive process, adding that senior representatives from the Technical Committee and the APC leadership will be available for questions.
Statistics Sierra Leone announced a significant change to the timeline of the upcoming Decennial Population and Housing Census. Originally scheduled for December 2025, the census enumeration has been postponed to December 2026.
The decision follows recommendations from a Census Assessment Mission, comprising technical experts from the U.S. Census Bureau, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – New York, who visited Sierra Leone in January 2025.
Deputy Statistician General, Lansana Kpewolo Kanneh said the postponement aims to provide ample time to achieve critical milestones in the census process. He emphasised the complexity and scale of the census, highlighting the need for thorough preparation. “The census is an expensive, expansive, elaborate, and complex national endeavor; its success, acceptance, and useful nature depends on us working together in a timely and inclusive manner,” he stated.
He also stressed the importance of the census data for national and international development planning, including the Medium-National Development Plan, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Africa Agenda 2030.
