The government has now informed Kenyan citizens that they do not need to make the journeys back to their respective homes upcountry in order to be enumerated during the ongoing census.
Speaking while addressing a press conference on Sunday, Government spokesperson Col. Cyrus Oguna also warned politicians from asking their people to go back home saying the census is a statistical exercise and should not be politicized.
“It is not a political exercise; this is a statistical exercise that is aimed at helping the government to be able to provide betters services to our people,” said Col. Oguna.
“And therefore the exercise should not be politicized, so those who are calling upon their people to go back to their homes because that is where they feel they belong should not do that.”
Col. Oguna also urged those who will not have been counted by end of day two of the exercise on Sunday not to panic, reiterating that the exercise will proceed until August 31, 2019.
He added that those who will still not have been enumerated by then should report to their area chiefs or call the toll free number – 0800221020.
“A number will be written on your door after enumeration, don’t erase it…it informs the other enumerators that you have been counted,” he stated.
According to the Government spokesperson, over 100, 000 police officers have been deployed across the country to provide security during the exercise, adding that “there have been instances of insecurity but nothing major.”
He further sought to reassure Kenyans that data collected during the census will be stored by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) confidentially and will not be revealed to anyone except for the purpose of aiding the government in proper planning.
“We also wish to thank bar and casino owners and even those who were in disco matangas and other enterprises for heeding to the call to close their businesses by 5p.m on Saturday. We continue to appeal to them to close them again today, Sunday, at 5p.m,” he added.
“Other businesses will operate normally. But we urge the business owners to allow their employees to go home early so that they can be counted.”