Nobody will be counted twice, KNBS tells Kenyans

Acting Treasury CS Ukur Yattani, his Interior counterpart Fred Matiang'i and ICT's Joe Mucheru during a press briefing on the level of preparedness of the forthcoming Census. [Wilberforce Okwiri]

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has assured Kenyans there will be no data duplication in the Census exercise that starts Saturday.

This was in response to one of the most asked questions, where citizens questioned what would happen if a parent reveals they have a certain number of children, and some of the children are out of home, being counted elsewhere.

“My parents are in Siaya. When they are asked how many children they have, they will include me. What happens when the enumerators come to my home in Kariobangi and count me? Would that not mean that I have been counted twice?” asked Johnny Luoko, a casual labourer in Industrial Area.

KNBS Director General Zachary Mwangi said enumerators will only be taking data of the people who have spent the night at the household.

“Parents will be asked how many children they have, but they will also be asked where the children are. Only the ones who are within a household will have their details captured,” said Chege.

He added that in residential areas, they will work closely with caretakers to ensure even those who are out of their homes are captured. 

KNBS also clarified that when they said they will be capturing fertility, they will not be checking on the ability to have babies, but rather on how many live births a woman has had.

A section of Kenyans took to social media to seek clarifications on what they termed 'ambiguous' on the list of questions expected.

“I may not have given birth now. How will they know about my fertility? I could be fertile but not ready for a baby now,” said Elizabeth Kahii on her Facebook page.

She was responding to reports from media that quoted the KNBS, saying fertility will be one of the statistics that will be captured, for better planning.

KNBS also discouraged people from travelling to their rural homes to be counted.

Interior CS Fred Matiang’i said they received reports that some politicians have been holding meetings to plan movement of people from Nairobi and other major towns to be counted in their home counties.

Police officers have been deployed to their areas of operation and those on leave recalled for duty. 

The question on whether Huduma Namba registration and Census had the same agenda still lingered, even after several statements from KNBS to explain that the two were different.

"The Census is instrumental in giving detailed information about migration patterns, disabilities and housing aspects, something Huduma Namba doesn't focus on," Mwangi said in previous media interviews. 

The data collected from Census will advise the government on how to plan for the next 10 years.

There has been general apathy on this year’s Census as most people expressed doubt on whether their statistics will be put in good use.

The many corruption cases and lack of tangible development projects was raised by most people as reasons why they are not enthusiastic to participate in the process.