The government has adjusted operation mechanisms for the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census and put in place measures to ensure the enumeration pace picks up following a resolution by an inter-ministerial meeting convened earlier today.
The enumeration period in major urban centres (Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu, Kakamega, Nyeri, Kiambu, Thika, Machakos, and Kisii) will now run from census from 6am to 10pm while the schedule for other areas has been fixed at 6am to 6pm.
Providing these updates from the census communication centre at Teleposta Towers, Interior PS Dr. Karanja Kibicho said census personnel will be paid accordingly based on the working hours and directed all content supervisors to make reports in this regard.
The PS forewarned of severe action against individuals attempting to block the exercise and urged members of the public to report any anomalies through the toll free number (0800221020.
“It is every Kenyan’s constitutional right and responsibility to take part in matters of national interest, and census is one of them. The security of our census personnel and the members of the public remains our top priority, and we have gone out of our way to quell some minor provocations,” Dr. Kibicho said.
So far, several people, among them chiefs, elders, and enumerators, are in police custody awaiting arraignment in court to face various charges, including incitement to violence and attempting to sabotage a national exercise.
Dr. Kibicho also divulged that a group of individuals are on detectives’ radar for trying to cook figures and urged National Government Administration Officers and the census personnel to uphold the integrity of the whole process by ensuring the exercise is carried out based on the results of the cartographic mapping and the stated enumeration areas.
He said: “Our system is integrated and foolproof; we also have a reliable way of monitoring and verifying the data. All those inflating numbers will surely bear individual responsibility for the same.”
The PS also reassured Kenyans that more adjustments will be made progressively from both operational and administrative perspectives to ensure no one is left out. The exercise will run until the 31st of August 2019.
