PNG census woes deepen as unpaid enumerators withhold data

9:22 am today

By Harlyne Joku in Port Moresby, BenarNews

National Capital District Ward 11 Coordinator Smith Yamanavan addresses his census officers regarding the delay in payments, Port Moresby July 30, 2024. [Harlyne Joku/BenarNews]

National Capital District Ward 11 Coordinator Smith Yamanavan addresses his census officers regarding the delay in payments, Port Moresby 30 July 2024. Photo: BenarNews / Harlyne Joku

Papua New Guinea's troubled population count is again facing disruption with census officers in the capital Port Moresby withholding their data from officials over a pay dispute.

The national Census started on 16 June and was meant to be finished in two weeks. It was extended and is still underway because of delays with funding, training and logistics.

The last credible one was conducted 24 years ago, and it's hoped this count will correct widely diverging population estimates ranging from 9.6 million to nearly twice that number.

The minister responsible for the census, Richard Masere, said in a statement last week he now expected the count to be finished by 24 August. He added most of the country has been counted, but data was still due to come from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

Census officials prepare to depart by boat from Buka, Bougainville, to count the populations of the surrounding atolls, the Catarets, Nuguria and Fead Islands on 25 July 2024. Photo: New Dawn FM News / Aloysisus Lukai

The government said it would purchase US $4.4 million (17 million kina) worth of digital tablets for enumerators to record census data, but it did not respond to BenarNews questions about how many of the 22,000 devices ordered had been delivered to PNG.

Some were distributed in Port Moresby a month after counting began but enumerators told BenarNews they had difficulties using them.

"The government needs to give us the support we need to enable us to make the Census successful," said Smith Yamanavan, coordinator of Ward 11 in the Port Moresby National Capital District, who leads 135 enumerators and supervisors.

He said the delayed tablets meant most of the Census was recorded on paper, creating further confusion as the data now needs to be digitised for the live count at the Census office. The officers are claiming payment for that extra work.

Yamanavan said his group will not hand over their data until they are paid. They want a 50 percent payment upfront before they release the information they've collected on paper since counting started in June.

NCD Ward 11 census enumerators and supervisors going through a training session on how to use digital tablets, Port Moresby 30 July 2024. Photo: BenarNews / Harlyne Joku

"[The] only way is to delay handing the data over until they themselves come visit us on the ground, with media and police, so we can give them our demands," Yamanavan said.

He said his group had not received any payment since the start of the census.

Last week, BenarNews sent questions to Masere but he is yet to respond.

The minister has twice given undertakings that the allowances would be paid, once in July and again last week.

"There is no clear explanation as to why our enumeration pay is delayed. The Provincial Census Coordinator keeps assuring us that we will be paid but when will this be?" Yamanavan said.

"Most of us are from the informal sector and not on a fixed income. We are reaching into our own pockets to pay for our logistics, vehicles and lunches and are becoming broke," he said.

"One of our women enumerators fainted in the process of collecting data as she was hungry and weak."

In a letter on 4 July to Chief National Statistician John Igitoi, Masere directed the immediate payment of the NCD enumerators. He called for an update and immediate action by the bureaucrats handling the census.

Sent 18 days into the census, Masere said it was disappointing and unacceptable that only 300,000 people had been counted, when enumerators should have reached two million in the NCD alone.

This census includes only six questions, omitting crucial socio-economic data and fails to meet the 2015 UN Principles for Population and Housing Censuses.

Masere in June said he had kept costs to 153 million kina (US$39 million), from a forecast budget of 300 million kina. The flawed 2011 census cost 150 million kina.

The extension of the census has also meant a delay in Local Level Government elections for 22 provinces that were due to start in late July. Those elections for 7000 ward councilors and 370 LLG presidents will now be held in September.

Papua New Guinea, because of its unreliable population data, is unable to establish basic facts such as its infant mortality rate and how much income the country has per person, which hampers efforts to lift living standards.