NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 30 – The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said on Thursday that all plans for next month’s National Census were in place.
KNBS Director General Anthony Kilele says over 140,000 staff have already been hired for the exercise and they are currently undergoing training.
President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga will on Friday launch a 25-day countdown that sets the pace for high level advocacy and sensitisation program. Mr Kilele said that the campaign aims at ensuring that all embrace the crucial exercise.
“You have to count to be part of a system. Once you are not part of that system then you cannot blame planners when they deal with inaccurate numbers,” Mr Kilele charged.
The DG said that Kenyans have a responsibility of taking part in the exercise to enable the government plan effectively in resource allocation.
“Kenyan needs to move to the next level of patriotism; come out and give the information required. Then we will put the government to task to know what figures it is using in its plans,” he added.
The director of Population and Statistics Collins Opiyo has assured that the Bureau is making elaborate security arrangements for the entire exercise.
“We have provided the security apparatus with all the information and the list of census personnel and they have used this to make security arrangements for every village,” Dr Opiyo assured.
Dr Opiyo said that the police department was expected to, within two weeks, announce security strategies for the exercise.
“For the hotspots areas the Police know them and they are making sure that in those areas both the personnel and the households are going to get adequate security,” he said.
Among the data to be collected from individuals and households include Kenyans in the Diaspora and their remittance, educational level and disability status. The Census will employ new technology for better accuracy and faster processing of data. These technologies include use of special software to scan hand printed responses on the census form.
The exercise to be held on the night of August 24/25 is the fifth in post independence Kenya and it is expected that around 40 million Kenyans will be counted.
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