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22 May, 2007
The Ethiopian Population Census Commission will purchase satellite imagery equipment worth four million pounds 69 million Br, which will be financed by a donation from the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID). The satellite equipment will be used for the Somali Regional State population census as part of the upcoming national census.
Paul Ackroyd, head of DFID Ethiopia, told Fortune that, out of the total grant of seven million pounds 129 million Br allocated for satellite equipment purchase and other activities for the State population census, four million pounds has been given to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for procurement on behalf of the Commission.
“Based on the a grant agreement we made early this year we are also to provide the remaining three million pounds (52 million Br) in the near future, and we believe the population census will be helpful for planning development projects in Ethiopia,” said Ackroyd.
Samia Zekaria, director general of Central Statistic Agency (CSA) and head of the Office for Population Census Commission, told Fortune that the equipment will be helpful to locate and count pastoralists with unpredictable movements.
“The equipment will be used to identify the location of pastoralists’ in the region. The actual counting will take place in person,” said Samia. She added the procurement of the satellite imagery equipment, the first of its kind for Ethiopia, will be obtained through an international tender.
The Ethiopian government has allocated 277.7 Million Br for the country’s third national census, which is scheduled to start on May 28, 2007. The project also enjoys a wide array of support from donor agencies and governments. UNFPA, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNICEF have granted a total of 4.53 million dollars. The governments of the Netherlands and Ireland have also provided financial support for the census.
Professor Beyene Petros, chairman of United Ethiopia Democratic Front (UEDP) told Fortune that some regions exaggerate their population size to get larger budget from the federal government than their actual population size entitles them.
“It is sensitive and has a serious implication on budget, identity and territorial issues” Beyene added. “If those cases are handled properly, the population census will help us to plan development,” he said.
Mesfin Mengistu, chairman of the Public Account Affairs Standing Committee, which should have been duly involved in any government budgeting process, told Fortune that, since the committee is newly formed, it was not involved in the budget.
“It is more technical than political, but still we insist the census to be given special attention,” said Mesfin.
The census for most of the country will start in May 2007, while that of the Somali and Afar regional states will take place in November 2007 when the pastoralists annually return to their sedentary dwellings. But the results will not be announced until the results from the two mostly pastoralist regions are in.
The third national census will employ 81,024 elementary school teachers and 16,467 secondary school teachers from across the country as data collectors. The teachers in Addis Abeba will be paid 50 Br a day, while those in the regional states will get per-diems based on their monthly salary.
Ethiopia’s first census, which put the country’s population at 39.5 million, was carried out in May 1984. The second census took place 10 years later in October 1994. By this time there were 53.5 million Ethiopians, a drastic 14 million increase in just ten years.
The third national census should have taken place in 2005 according to the Federal Constitution. However, this did not happen because of capacity limitations to undertake the general election in 2005 and the planned census concurrently, according to Samia.
By FEKADU BESHAH - FORTUNE STAFF WRITER
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