Mr. Speaker Sir,

Honorable Members

It gives me great honor that I address your Honorable House and Convey to you that the Census Count, in its twelvth (12^th ) day is continuing very smoothly and safely all over the Sudan .

This judegement is based on the daily reports that we receive regularly at the Control Room of MOC; I would like to assure the Honorable Council that ALL the reports are positive and good, including those from Darfur and Southern Sudan.

Honorable Speaker,

Honorable Members,

I would like to take this chance to retreive together the duties and responsibilities of the Monitoring and Observation Committee (MOC)    as stated  in the Ministerial Decree NO(81) for 2006 from the Population Census at the Federal level :-

1.     Monitor and observe the census execution at all stages and levels .

2.     Ensure Compliance with internationally established census criteria and standards.

3.     Ensure comprehensive Coverage.

4.     Ensure Transparency of all Census procedures and operations.

5.     Provide regular reports including recommendation when necessary to the PCC

6.     Provide reports on the final census result to the PCC.

7.     Provide technical advice to the PCC in writing when necessary.

Because of this vital  role of the MOC , its membership comprises of   representatives form all the 25 States , from the Universities and other academic institutions , from the political parties , from the civil society  organizations , and from the concerned ministries and other government units , in addition to some regional and international statistical offices and organizations; this include UNFPA , CAPMAS(Egypt), world Bank , DIFD , EU , the Ugandan Statistics Office , French Cooperation , USAID, DANIDA , AU and ECA . The Chairmanship of MOC is given to the Council of States which I am honored to represent.

MOC has started its operations by constituting a work Regulations to govern its activities, and formed a Sub-Committee of 10 of its members to run the day – to - day work and oversee the whole job. The Sub-committee include in its member representatives from the political parties, from the Donors   and UNFPA. MOC also opened the door for any person or organization to join MOC as supervisor, if we think he/she will contribute positively to MOC; both the Carter Center and the German Embassy attended MOC meeting as supervisors.

MOC held up-to-now 7 regular meetings while the Sub-Committee held 15. Also three workshops were held both in Khartoum and Juba to build the capacity of its members; they were very fruitful and useful. Also MOC sent some of its members on external missions to African countries of similar nature to Sudan, So as to gain experience, and to utilize those countries experiments,  

Honorable Speaker,

Honorable Members,

The exercise of census monitoring and   observation by a legally formed entity, as the case of MOC, is unprecedented; the only recent case that are found is that of Nigeria in its census of 2006. However, in the Nigerian case there is no agency by itself entrusted this role and responsibility, but an external team from 25 countries did the Job. What we did is that we studied the Nigerian case very well, and formed a panel of specialists who made the necessary recommendations   to suit the Sudanese case . We also called upon Dr.Elezabath, the French lady of Nigerian origin who headed the international monitoring team of Nigeria; she helped in designing our plan for monitoring.

MOC monitoring plan is based on the follows :

1.     The Nigerian Experience of 2006 census.

2.     The South African experience of their 2001 census and 2006 community survey   .

3.     The Egyptian experience of their census of 2006 .

4.     The accumulated knowledge and experience the MOC members gained through their long history since it is first formed in March 2006.

MOC plan is divided into three phases:

A)         The preparation phase which include:

I)  Data Collection.

II)         Questionnaire Design   

III)  Printing the questionnaire and transportation

IV) Storage and insurance

V)         Mapping and listing

VI) Pilot census

MOC invited specialized experts from South African  , from Uganda and from  Ethiopia to monitor this phase , and they submitted very favourable  Reports.

B)                Second phase is the current one: "the Count ", which is considered as the peak of the whole operation and its climax. To this phase MOC has planned as follows:

a)     Sudan is divided into 9 regions (typical to the original 9 Provinces in 1.1.1956). Each region two experts, one National and one International, are assigned the job of overseeing the whole monitoring process and ultimately writing the regional report.

b)     At the states levels, as well, there is a National state monitor and an International State monitor, to report to the regional monitor and to me ultimately.

Both  the National and International Monitors were recruited  by a panel from MOC specialized members , under my Chairmanship who screened the applications and CVs submitted by the candidates   who responded either to the advertisement MOC made in English in the Daily Newspaper , or to the direct contact  made with some of the Universities with population studies curricula . The responses were great as per the pre-determined   requirements. CVs are received from outside Sudan from Nigerian , South African ,Uganda , Kenya, Mozambique , Liberia , Egypt , Jordan , Azerbjan , Indonesia   and India . From inside the Sudan CVs were received from University Professors in the filed, from ex-census workers, and from eminent pensioner administrators. The named panel screened the CVs and selected the most qualified ones. A workshop is organized 12 – 15 April 2008 to train these National and International monitors. The workshop was at the Grand Villa Hotel and its opening session was addressed by H.E UNFPA Res. Rep. and H.E Mr.Idris A/Gadir , the State Minister at the presidency and H.E Mr. Pagan Amom the Cabinet Minster.

This program in funded by the Donors and costs about $1.4 m.

C)         Monitoring at the locality / county levels.

At this level there are the MOC members who represent the respective states; in each state the representative have formed a monitoring committee under his chairmanship and four (4) other members; the committee membership resembles  and reflects – as possible – the socio-political arena composition in the state and entrusted to help the state monitors (1 National + 1 International)   to do their job smoothly and safely .

D      Monitoring at the Administrative Unit /Payam  levels and lower levels up to Enumeration Areas (EAs)  , is entrusted to 250 monitors selected from among school teachers who were thoroughly trained and cross – posted in 200 Mahalia such that no one is assignmed in his original locality or region. Of these, 133 monitors were sent to the South and the rest to the North. These monitors are to make sure of the total coverage at the EA levels, and of the retrieval of the filled in questionnaires to the states office.

The Budget of the monitors at the state level (1+4 from the state itself) and the monitor at the Mahalia levels is provided from MOC resources from GONU; the budget is about $ 800.000. Therefore the total   cost of monitoring the enumeration phase   is :$1.4 m +$0.8 = $2.2 m .

What are the difficulties that faced the 133 monitors at the locality level in the South ?

i)         Because the rain was heavily falling during the few days preceding the start of the  Census count in many Southern states , those monitors were not able to "land" in their station's airports , and had to fly back to airports in the North . Ultimately, these monitors arrived to their stations after the Census Reference Hour.

ii)       Most of those monitors were not able to report, on their arrival to   their stations, to MOC state representatives to whom the letter of their introduction is addressed, how were in their respective Counties to be counted there. Therefore, the monitors reported to the SSCCSE head office in the state; these officials denied any knowledge of those monitors and reported that to the security authorities. For this reason many of them where detained or put into    custody and ultimately kicked off.

iii)     MOC made quick high level contacts and the matter was settled in Jungolei (Malout) , Upper Nile, Lakes and Western Equatoria .

We think, as MOC this happened because of : -

a.     Mal-coordination with MOC state representatives .

b.     Miscommunication.

Any way, the case is over and closed; however, we have sent the detailed plan of monitoring to both CBS and SSCCSE.

In the middle of these events, we were surprised by having GOSS issuing press release ordering those monitors to be kicked out of the South, and go back to where they came, because neither GOSS nor SSCCSE know of them coming. Our comment on the press release   by GOSS is as follows:

1.     MOC is linked neither to GOSS nor to GONU and functions independently of both as one of the ad – hoc committees of the Council of States.

2.     MOC is independent , as well , of the two agencies excuting the census , namely CBS and SSCCSE in the North and in the South  respectively.

3.     MOC plan and its movements are known  to all concerned specially in the South and is functioning in  full transparency although . MOC held two meeting and a workshop in the South for the Southern members capacity building . Even the MOC Seventh Regular Meeting was held in Juba in March 26,2008 when the monitoring plan was presented and distributed. This very meeting, which was the last before the census count , was attended and addressed  by Honourable   Remy Olier , the Deputy Speaker of this Council , by  H.E Dr. Luka Biong, on behalf of H.E Dr.Riak Machar the Vice  President of GOSS , the representative of the CEq State Governor the Minister of Information and Communication and  by the Officer in charge of the Census Security File in the South.

Also attended that meeting and addressed it is the Chairman of  SSCCSE Mr.Isaiah Choll .The meeting was attended by a huge gathering especially from the South, and UNFPA. The staff of SSCCSE have contributed in all the meetings and workshops as source persons and were useful

When GOSS issued its press release, 7 monitors were detained for 4 days; these were brought from Tirkaka, Leria, and Juba, in addition to those in Awil .There is one international monitor – an Algerian – who came as part of a team of 3 monitors from the Arab League; he was put under custody in the Hotel where he stated and all the information in his laptop is destroyed

Accordingly, MOC decided to pull out those monitors at the Mahalia level from the South to comply with the illogical GOSS decision: However, there are some states in the South like Jungolei, Unity, Lakes, and West Equatoria which did not follow GOSS decision and did not object to the monitors.

Honorable Speaker

Honorable Members,

MOC has always refrained from getting involved in political issues; we are well aware of the special nature of this census and the many challenges and risks that face it; therefore we are committed to complete our job perfectly and in full professionalism, which we think we have succeeded in performing up to now. So MOC Subcommittee met, in an emergency meeting, in the course of this incident and concluded as follows:

I            The decision taken by GOSS to let the monitors, at the Mahalia  level out of the South, is illogical and cannot be defended.

II         The removal of the monitors at this level will have its impact on the overall process to a great extent .

III       To minimize this impact, the role of monitoring at the Mahalia level is assigned to the state monitors, so that we will have the same level of monitoring and methodology both in the South and North.

IV      It must be noted that there are 68 monitors at the Mahalia level in the North who are originally from the South; the work these monitors are doing and the cooperation they are getting  is incredible and excellent.

Honorable Speaker

Honorable Members,

I am hereby presenting this report to you in response to the question by the Honorable member.  Finally I would like to assure you that MOC policy is pivoted on three important pillars :

INDEPENDENCE, NEUTURALITY and TRANSPARENCY. We are always inspired by our affiliation to the Council of States , and we are  well aware of the big job and responsibility laid on us ,and the challenges facing us. However, the Hope is always there and the Will is dominant, and we are going to attain our goal: success INSHA ALLAH.

 Thank you

  Dr.Abdelbagi Gailani

MOC Chairman

www.mocsudancensus.org