The National Population and Household Census is to move to Regions 1 and 7 on Saturday and enumerators are avoiding the area south of the Railway Embankment at Buxton and an estimate of the households will be done instead.
Enumerators have so far covered 96.5% of the population but are still to visit Region 1 (Barima-Waini) and Region 7 (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Chief Statistician Lennox Benjamin said recently the Bureau of Statistics would have to make a determination to estimate how many people live in that area of Buxton. This was because enumerators were apprehensive and given the security activities in the area, coupled with the reports that outsiders were treated with suspicion, Benjamin said it was decided that an estimate would be best. He said this was also done in Jamaica where certain areas are "no-go". Benjamin however lamented that this would prove a severe challenge to future surveys and he added that in hindsight he would not have wanted to start the census now, since the continuing criminal activity has made persons even more apprehensive.
Enumeration in the two hinterland regions had been scheduled to begin at the start of the year but is now set to begin on Saturday and is expected to last two weeks.
Apart from these remaining districts, which account for an estimated 3% of the population and a few pockets where rechecks are being done, activity in the regions are winding down.
Benjamin said work is yet to begin in these areas because the staff of the Bureau had been snowed under preparing payments owed to enumerators.
Benjamin in an interview with Stabroek News explained that the first half of January was spent getting payments to enumerators, who have been bombarding the Bureau for outstanding payments.
He noted that enumerators, even those who had completed their work, could not be paid until the findings were submitted by co-ordinators and supervisors, many of whom did not submit any work until mid to late December. Following the submission of questionnaires, checks for correctness and consistency are done. If it was found that questionnaires were incomplete or information inconsistent with the summary submissions, the Bureau would return the questionnaires to the area supervisor for rectification.
He also explained that the Bureau would need to seek additional funding through the Ministry of Finance, with the extension of the exercise into 2003.
Because of the logistics of terrain, enumeration in these outlying areas had been left for completion in the latter stages of the nationwide exercise and it had been the plan to send a core team from the Bureau into the areas to conduct the exercise.
However he said a team from the Bureau has been assembled which would manage and organise trained supervisors and enumerators from within the areas.
While he was of the view that Region 7 would not be a worry, Benjamin noted that Region 1 is going to be a challenge because of the ground which needs to be covered and the heavy dependence on riverain travel to access households.
And unlike other countries, such as Jamaica, the Bureau does not have regional offices. This was something "we may possibly want to look at, at least in the key areas." Benjamin added that regional authorities did provide assistance.
The staff of the Bureau is currently verifying data and highlighting areas where there is need for revisits.
"We are doing a recheck where possible before accepting it for final input." One example he cited is in the case where vacant buildings are identified. He noted that the Bureau checks to ensure that these buildings are vacant, rather than closed buildings where the occupants are temporarily absent.
In some areas he added persons have put up a basic minimum structure, to possibly lay claim to land allocation and "when we see the indicators we check to find the answer or the rationale."
In the event of closed buildings, he said they attempt to glean from immediate neighbours, the basic minimum, meaning the number of persons, the gender profile and age range.
He also noted that some persons had asked for a deferral in their enumeration and the Bureau has accommodated them.