World Bank backs out from funding Sierra Leone census

- The World Bank has withdrawn its support for a population and housing census in Sierra Leone just days before it was due to begin, according to a letter from the Bank addressed to Sierra Leone’s finance minister.

President Julius Maada Bio last week announced that the national statistics office would launch a two-week mid-term census on Dec. 10 to correct “anomalies” from the last count in 2015, which the previous administration used to justify creating additional districts in its strongholds.

The former ruling party and current opposition have said they would boycott the exercise, calling it a political gimmick by Bio’s government to increase their own constituency count ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

The World Bank was to provide the bulk of the money for the census, using an unspecified portion of a $30 million grant earmarked for Sierra Leone last year to strengthen its statistical system.

In a letter to Sierra Leone Finance Minister Dennis Vandi that was seen by Reuters, the World Bank’s country director, Pierre Laporte, said the government had failed to meet the necessary conditions for the funds to be disbursed.