Julian Robinson demands clarity on indefinite completion date for survey

Opposition spokesperson on finance, Julian Robinson, is demanding further clarity from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), which has declared that the 2022 Population and Housing Census will now continue indefinitely after missing two prior deadlines.

According to Robinson, the recent explanation given by the Director General of STATIN Carol Coy is unacceptable and an indictment on the agency.

“It really is unacceptable that one year later, you cannot give a projection, having missed all the deadlines that you had set initially that you can’t project when this exercise will be complete. I think it’s an indictment on STATIN, and I believe what she said in the press conference should not be allowed to remain like that. She must be able to give a better explanation for the issues and what they’re doing to resolve it,” the Opposition spokesperson insisted.

While speaking at STATIN’s quarterly press conference on Tuesday, Coy said that it is difficult to state what percentage of the population has been counted because “the percentage varies, and the issue is that you can be in an enumeration district… and the [district] is not yet completed”.

She added that the agency will focus on wrapping up the data collection process, and it will not set a new deadline.

“In my mind, she obviously knows the data, but she doesn’t want to share it, and that indicates to me that they’re still at a very low level of completion and that the issues that have plagued the Census for [almost] a year have not been resolved,” Robinson told Our Today.

Further, Robinson argued that Coy’s claim that the delays will not result in an increase in the J$2.4-billion budget for the exercise is no consolation. He said the fact that the census will continue without any deadline with unresolved issues are major concerns.

“STATIN is an agency that reports to the Ministry of Finance, and it is clear that they can’t deal with the problems facing the Census and they need external help. They may need to hire an external project manager who will have responsibility for managing it. But in this day and age, I don’t find it acceptable that it is beyond our capacity as a country to gather this data,” Robinson told Our Today.

He further noted that Coy’s term as head of STATIN ends soon, and “it would be a shame for her to leave with the issue of an incomplete census on her watch,” acknowledging that up until this point, she has performed well.

The 2022 census began its data collection process on September 12, 2022, with an initial completion date of December 2022. When the agency did not meet the deadline due to recruitment and compensation issues, March 2023 became the new deadline. However, that deadline was also not met.

Coy, however, explained that payment issues arise because workers returned incomplete or insufficient questionnaires with the expectation to be compensated. She pointed out that the terms of their contract state that the work must be done correctly before payment is made. She noted that STATIN is working to have the matter addressed and promised that workers will be compensated once the job is done correctly.