Another population census:

How many Cameroonians are we?
- President Paul Biya has decreed the organization of the 4th national population census. But the debates sparked by the ‘controversial and doubtful’ results of the 3rd census in 2005 are still on 
By Mercy Neba in Yaounde
How many Cameroonians are there? The answer to this question would be available hopefully, in the next couple of months, as President Paul Biya has on Tuesday 15 September decreed the organisation of a population census in the country. The census to be done by the Bureau Central des Recencements et des Etudes de Population (Bucrep), will be the 4th to be organised in Cameroon, after those of 1976 (7.6 million Cameroonians), 1987 (10.5 million Cameroonians) and 2005 (17.5 million Cameroonians).
    Placed under the authority of the ministry of the economy, planning and regional development MINEPAT, the 4th general census will concern all physical persons resident in Cameroon. It however, will not concern members of the diplomatic corps and their sibling resident here.
    According to the decree, persons shall be counted at the places of residence (homes), irrespective of whether they are present or absent at the time of the operation.
    The decree explains that the 4th general census is aimed to know the population structure (age, sex, working, aging etc), housing characteristics and mode of life of the different segments of the population.
    Explaining the presidential decree, the director general of Bucrep, Bernadette Mbarga, said the census operation would be preceded by the technical studies (elaboration of questionaires), followed by cartographic studies (inventory of towns, villages and Islands), then a pilot counting phase which will entail testing the effectiveness and functionality of the materials to be used for the operation census proper.

     It should however be noted that the presidential decree did not fix a date for the start of the census operations; it also did not say when the results of the operation should be ready. However, the decree said “a decision of the prime minister will fix the date for the start and end of the census operations.”
    The budget for the census would be financed from the state budget and with donations from foreign partners.
    According to Bernadette Mbarga, Bucrep is counting on the good will of agencies like UNFPA and UNICEF to finance part of the operations, like was the case for the last census in 2005.
    She revealed to Cameroon Tribune that prior cartographic studies would start in January 2016 and will last for 5 months. Meanwhile, the census proper may start in November 2016, other things being equal. She said the results should be expected by the end of November 2017.
    An innovation in this 4th census operation would be the use of computers (tablets) for recording of data, instead of papers and pens like before.
    It is worthy of mention that the 4th general census has been commanded even when the results of the 3rd census were severely criticized as ‘biased and doctored’. Some said the results were made to satisfy the selfish whims and caprices of some misguided people in authority.
    Observers for instance could not imagine how the centre region could be more populated than the Littoral and Far North regions and how Yaounde could have more people than the economic capital Douala.