
With the Opposition pressing for the release of the 2022 national census report, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said he had no information on the possible release date of the census.
In October 2024, the Bureau of Statistics said a preliminary report on the census would be released “soon”. However, there has been no release almost three months later.
Confronted on the issue on Thursday, the Vice President pointed to the Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, who he said would be the one to receive the report on behalf of the Government.
“I have not dealt with this. I saw it recently. I don’t know. It would be with the Minister of Finance. I don’t have any information on that issue at this stage,” Jagdeo said.
Mr. Jagdeo said the Opposition has been pushing for the release of the census for political purposes, on the assumption that it would show a decline in key populations.
“Since I started politics, they have always done the ethnic count. Indo Guyanese population has been declining in Guyana, so, the PPP will lose the elections. Indo Guyanese population has been declining, so the PPP will lose the elections. Not today, from the beginning that I started politics. And for them, it is just about race, and we have shown over the years, that we have won the elections. We won the elections, in spite of a declining Indo-Guyanese population,” the PPP/C General Secretary said.
He said regardless of the results of the 2022 Census, the PPP/C is confident that it will be re-elected based on its “national politics.”
“It does not matter. We are going to win the Elections because of our national politics. And they know it,” he told reporters.
But Leader of the AFC, Nigel Hughes said it is unacceptable that more than two years later, the census report has not been released.
He said based on internal analysis done by the AFC, the 2022 Population and Housing Census Report would provide some interesting results.
“The Census is still not being released. We published earlier this week, the results of earlier censuses, and the decline and increases that they showed, and our extrapolation from that information, based on the rate of growth, does disclose some very interesting results that we anticipate. And so, we want to repeat again, our demand for the release of the census, which is now two and a half years overdue,” Hughes said.
In justifying the delay in the publication of the census results, the Bureau of Statistics said the delay is strictly as a result of its unwavering commitment to professional diligence in the face of considerable challenges encountered during this census round.
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