The fact the National Population and Housing Census was called off due to financial constraints is a crying shame and lay bare our national failure to properly plan. The census is conducted every decade and was postponed from 2021.
The last one was conducted in 2011. The “calling off” of this critically important national project doesn’t just prove planning is way down our priority list but it also does not bode well for solving our most pressing challenges.
The list of Namibia’s development needs is long and growing. In the absence of credible scientific data, youth unemployment, housing, access to healthcare and uneven land distribution cannot be effectively addressed if we go about it by guessing or reacting to crises.
The main objective of this project is to provide demographic and socio-economic statistical information about the population and its living quarters, which is necessary for evidence-based planning, decision-making and policymaking, said National Planning Commission director general Obeth Kandjoze this week.
One cannot divorce credible data from national planning and budgeting. The country now relies on outdated information to make crucial decisions. The importance of reliable statistics cannot be overemphasised as they are essential for measuring progress in reaching development goals and provide essential information about the effectiveness of policies and programmes.
Perhaps the N$1 billion price tag was too ambitious and a proper review of the envisaged expenses is necessary. It is also mind-boggling the fact that no money was put away every year since the last census to avoid having to find such a big sum in one budget in an already depressed economic atmosphere.
This also brings to the fore the country’s lack of national digital infrastructure. How much lower would that price tag be, if we had a working e-governance system rather than having to hire equipment and manpower for several months?
We are not just wasting valuable time that went into the preparation and preliminary process, which started a year or two ago, over N$100 million was already spent.
That information is likely not to be of any relevance by the time we are ready to conduct the proper census. It means these funds will go down the drain as well. It is unthinkable how the census landed on the list of options we could cut from our national budget.
Today it is the census. What’s next? Elections?
Look at our ever-growing expenditure on defence. Where is the return on investment from that? There is a serious need to rethink this decision.