The prime minister is again making an appeal for all residents of Antigua and Barbuda to participate in the National Housing and Population Census due to kick off with Census Day on June 25.
PM Gaston Browne said the census is a critical undertaking as it will determine the nation’s population which is necessary to inform national planning in all critical areas such as education, health and social planning.
The prime minister said the census is one issue that should be free of politics as the information that is generated by the Census will be equally as importantly to an opposition party as to the government. “It’s your civic duty to participate in the census and I am appealing to all residents, everyone living in the country to participate,” he urged.
He made a call for the Leader of the Opposition, Jamale Pringle and other members of the UPP to embrace the census and to encourage their members to make themselves available to be counted.
Regarding members of the non-national community, PM Browne is assuring them that they too should make themselves available to be counted as the census seeks to ascertain the number of residents, not who are nationals and who are not.
“In fact, the information regarding a person’s immigration status in the country cannot be shared by the census department so there is no fear that anyone who is here illegally can be deported because they participated in the census. In fact, anyone sharing a person’s immigration status may be severely punished by law,” he declared.
Additionally, he noted that his government does not have a history of deporting anyone except in cases where they run afoul of the law.
PM Browne further explained that the census will answer questions regarding morbidity rates, mortality rates and other critical information that are necessary for national planning.
