Census (Amendment) Act, 1974
Signed this 29 th day of November. 1974
The Census (Amendment) Act, 1974
Be it enacted by the President and Members of Parliament in this present Parliament assembled, as follows: —
1. Section 1 of the Census Act is hereby repealed and replaced by the following new section—
"Application, l. This Act shall apply throughout Sierra Leone".
2. Section 5 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and
replaced by the following new section—
5. The President may by Order appoint--
(a) a Census Commissioner for the purposes of the Census who shall be the Chairman of
Census Committee mentioned in para
graph (b):
(b) a Census Committee consisting of not more than eleven members to assist'the Chairman and to give advice on matters referred to it by the Census Commissioner.".
3. Section 6 of the principal Act is herebv repealed and by the following new section—
6. Subject to the control of the President, the Census Commissioner—
(a) shall have the general supervision and management of the Census;
(b) shall cause to be prepared, printed, and issued for the use of the persons employed in the execution of this Act, such forms and instructions as he may deem necessary, and m particular questionnaires to be filled up with such particulars as the President may consider necessary in order to ensure as far as possible the completeness and accuracy of the Census returns;
(c) shall make such arrangements as are necessary for the collection, revision and collation of the information required to be obtained for the purposes of the Census;
(d) shall call for, examine, study and make recommendations in respect of any reports which may from time to time be submitted to it by the Chief Census Officer;
(e) shall_ appoint, with the approval of the Minister, Census Officers, supervisors and enumerators required for the taking of the Census;
(f) shall give such directions to the Chief Census Officer or any other person appointed pursuant to any law relating to Census and
Statistics;
(g) shall submit the results of the Census as soon as may be possible to the President in accordance with section 15:
(h\ shall do all such things as may be accessary or expedient for the exercise of the powers or the performance of his functions under any law.".
4. The principal Act is hereby amended by the addition immediately after section 6 of the following new section—
6. A. (1) For the purpose of the Census the Director of Statistics appointed under the Statistics Act, 1963, shall be the Chief Census Officer for the purpose of this Act.
(2) The duties of the Chief Census Officer
shall be—
(a) the direction of the overall technical and administrative control of the conduct and operation of the Census;
(b) the demarcation of Sierra Leone into Census District areas:
(c) the designing, testing and finalization of the Census questionnaires;
(d) the procurement of Census materials, equipments and supplies and their distribution in the different Census district areas;
(e) the appointment of all temporary Census personnel;
(f) the training of all census technical staff, including cartographers, cartographic assistants, enumerating staff:
(g) the processing, tabulation, analysis and publication of census data;
(h) the conduct of the Census post-enumeration survey and the analysis thereof;
(i) the summoning of meetings of the Census Committee at such times as may be directed by the Chairman and the keeping of records of all the proceedings of the meetings of the Committee;
(j) the provision of Census Office accommodation (to be known as the Census Secretariat) and of equipment for members of the Census Committee;
(k) the general administration and direction of the Census Secretariat;
(/) such other functions as may be determined by the Chairman."'.
5. Section 7 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and replaced by the following new section—
7, Section replaced by the
7. There shall be District Census Officers who shall act under the supervision and control of the Census Officer.".
6. Section 8 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and replaced by the following new section—
8. Without prejudice to the powers of the Census Commissioner, every enumerator shall be subject to the immediate supervision and control of his supervisor, and every supervisor shall be subject to the immediate supervision and control of the Field Officer, and every Field Officer shall in turn be subject to the immediate supervision and control of the Chief Census Officer.".
9 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and following new section—
9. (1) Subject to the directions of the supervisor, every enumerator shall interview the head of every household or person deputed by such head and in his absence the next senior occupier of the household. The enumerator shall collect information from the person interviewed with regard to every occupier of the household and shall with the information complete the questionnaire in respect of the household in the presence of the head or person interviewed.
(2) Every supervisor shall be in charge of the work of at least five enumerators and shall ensure that the work is done properly and in accordance with the directions of the Field Officer.
(3) Every Field Officer shall be responsible for the work of at least ten supervisors and shall ensure that their duties are carried out in accordance with the instructions of the Chief Census Officer. ".
8. Section 10 of the principal Act is hereby repealed.
Section 1 i of the principal Act is hereby repealed and following new section—
11. Any person not holding, a post below that of an enumerator and who shall produce an identification Card duly signed by the Chief Census Officer and who is employed in the execution of this Act. shall have authority to ask of any person whom they shall have reasonable cause to believe to be able to afford the information desired all such questions as may be necessary for obtaining any particulars required for the purpose of this Act, and every person refusing to answer or knowingly giving a false answer to any such questions, shall for every such refusal or false answer be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding Fiftv Leones. ".
10. Section 12 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and replaced by the following new section—
12. (1) Every enumerator shall without delay deliver to the supervisor responsible for his area ail questionnaires collected and completed by him in to accordance with the provisions of this Act, and shall - certify in writing that all instructions issued to him under this Act have been duly complied with and that the particulars on the said questionnaire have been truly and faithfully taken and that to the best of his knowledge thev are correct as far as may be known.
(2) If any enumerator shall give any certificate under subsection (1) which he knows or has reasonable cause to believe to be false or inaccurate he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding Fifty Leones.".
11. Section 13 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and replaced by the following new section—
13. (1) After receiving the questionnaires and certificates in respect thereof from all the enumerators of his area every supervisor shall cause the same to be transmitted and delivered to his Field Officer who shall in turn deliver the same to the Chief Census Officer.
(2) The Chief Census Officer shall without delay make a return of all the questionnaire and information he receives from the Field Officers to the Census Commissioner. ".
reolaeed bv the
12. Section 15 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and replaced by the following new section—
15. Upon receipt of the questionnaires and certificates from the Chief Census Officer and all other returns required by him for the purpose of the Census, the Census Commissioner shall as soon as may be practicable prepare and furnish to the President a report m such form and containing such particulars as to matters provided for under this Act as the President may require.".
13. Section 16 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and replaced by the following new section—
16. (1) If any person employed in the execution of this Act makes wilful default in the performance of any of his duties under this Act or wilfully makes any false declaration or return he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding Fifty Leones.
(2) If the head of a household or person deputed by him or senior occupier of the household—
(a) wilfully refuses or without lawful excuse neglects to answer questions put to him by any person employed in the execution of this Act to the best of his knowledge, information and belief; or
(b) wilfully causes to be made, signed or delivered any false return on any matter of which particulars are required by the questionnaire.
he shall be guilty of an offence and shall for each such offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding Fifty Leones.
(3) If any person—
(a) being one of the persons employed in the execution of this Act publishes or communicates to any person, without lawful authority any information acquired in the course of his employment; or
(b) having possession of any information which to his knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of this Act publishes or communicates that information to any other person.
he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred Leones or to both such imprisonment and fine'.
14. The principal Act is hereby amended as follows—
(a) by the insertion of the word " Chief " immediately after the word " a" and before the words "Census Officer" in the third line of section 17 thereof; and
(b) by the substitution of the words " Fifty Leones " for the words '' Ten Pounds " in the last line of section 18 thereof.
Passed in Parliament this 22nd day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventy-four.
M. MUNU Acting Clerk of Parliament.
This Printed Impression has been carefully compared by me with the Bill which has passed Parliament and found by me to be a true and correctly printed copy of the said Bill.
Acting Clerk of Parliament
