NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 1- A day after the Census exercise concluded, a number of people told Capital News that they were not captured in the headcount.
Enumerators in Nairobi’s Kariobangi, Pumwani and Gikomba areas were still busy on Tuesday registering those who turned up at the provincial administration offices as persons on transit but still could not cover everyone since the deadline had already lapsed.
“Some of us had already finalised the books, so we had to take those coming to the chiefs’ office to somebody else to do that job if they had not closed their books or we count them as travellers,” said Naomi an enumerator in Pumwani.
Ms Naomi also said it was hard for them to count everyone because some people had refused to be counted, while others were never found in their households during their visits.
“No we did not count everyone; there has been a big issue, some people refused to be enumerated, there are other places that despite going their every day, I never found any person,” she said.
Her colleague Doreen also said she did not count everyone because some of the people were very uncooperative and even turned them away.
“Sometimes we were even chased and called names, we tried all our best because we have been trained but there is nothing much I could have done because I could not force myself into their homes,” she said.
Ms Doreen also said some people withheld important information and also gave false information.
She further complained that it was hard to enumerate people from Somalia because they had been misinformed that they were being counted so that they could be deported.
“As a result of this wrong information many of them refused to say how many people were living in their household,” she said.
Despite the hitches, KEBS said most of the people were covered in the exercise and those not counted would be included in the margin error.
Population and Social Statistics Director Dr Collins Opiyo told Capital News that those who have not been counted should also call the hotline numbers and explain where they were to ensure they are not recounted.
On Monday, KEBS said 98 percent of the households had been covered with parts of Rift Valley, Eastern and North Eastern Provinces remaining to conclude the counting exercise.
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