EDITORIAL - Use the census to chart future

Mike Henry, transport and works minister in the Jamaican Government, is likely to be followed with keen interest and anticipation as the national census begins today.

At its end, and when the data are collated, we can imagine Mr Henry and his technical staff poring over the figures to see what story they tell and how they should inform policy.

Indeed, we would expect the same from other government ministers with regard to their portfolios and, for that matter, any other person with a role in, or responsibility for, public-policy formulation. But Mr Henry, in particular, catches our fancy with regard to this exercise. He represents something of a metaphor for the public official who understands the importance of taking censuses.

inadequate policies

During his long years in Opposition, prior to the Jamaica Labour Party's election victory in 2007, Mr Henry often complained that public policy was not being sufficiently informed by true or relevant demographic information.

As we understand it, it was not because Mr Henry felt that no information was available, or that policymakers were silly. But constant movement of the Jamaican population made it difficult to get a demographic fix on communities at any particular time.

The informal settlements that grow so quickly around towns and other urban centres are examples of this seeming flux.

A census, therefore, with an attempt, by and large, of a headcount of the population should provide more definitive information on the number of people who live in Jamaica, where they are, and the circumstances of their lives. Indeed, in the decade since the last such count, policymakers have had to rely, to a substantial degree, on surveys, extrapolations and analyses for an understanding of how the population may have changed since then.

We, of course, understand that conducting a census is likely to be challenging for those undertaking it. Not only are the logistics of themselves difficult, but Jamaicans tend to be suspicious of their Government and its institutions. They are often unwilling to make themselves available and volunteer information about themselves to public officials.

insufficient campaigning

That is why, while we observed and noted the public-education campaign in support of the census, we do not believe it was either as aggressive or as sustained as it ought to have been. It is, however, not too late to advance the effort.

This concern, notwithstanding, we hope that Jamaicans will support and fully participate in the process, understanding that full and good information on how many of us really live here, where we are, and so will translate into better policies and, hopefully, improved services.

Mr Henry, for instance, will have greater certainty about where he ought to build roads and on which lines to run those wonderfully painted diesel trains he wishes to reintroduce to Jamaica's narrow-gauge railway tracks, and at what time they should toot to their stops.

Or, he might just think again about the econo-mics of the project.

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