Population census or political headcount?

President Uhuru Kenyatta receives the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census results from Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani at State House, Nairobi on November 4, 2019.

Soon after the release of the 2019 population census results on Monday, I met an old friend unwinding with a cup of tea.

I quickly joined him with a topic opener to pick his mind. “Did you hear that we are now 47.5 million Kenyans?” I asked.