The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is urging religious leaders to support the upcoming Kenya Population and Housing Census.
The Director General of the KNBS Zachary Mwangi this week met religious to brief them on progress made in preparation regarding the enumeration.
“The clergy are a crucial partner in supporting the dissemination of census information to their congregations throughout the country,” said the Director General.
Mwangi urged the clergy to be ready to assist KNBS to raise public awareness about the census among their congregations and support the distribution of census information and materials to their congregations across the country.
The 2009 Census is scheduled to begin on the night of 24 August until 31 August.
“We are asking you to be our ambassadors, to help us ensure that the census is successful and to urge your congregations to prepare for the census and be ready to welcome enumerators to their homes. Our team has prepared materials that will be shared with churches, mosques and other religious organisations.”
He revealed that the recruitment process has been completed. 2,700 ICT supervisors were recruited along with 27,000 content supervisors and 135,000 enumerators.
Chairman of KNBS Peter Kiguta reiterated the plea to the leaders of all faiths to support the census. He expressed his satisfaction that the gadgets that will be used for the enumeration exercise have been assembled in Kenya.
The tablets have been assembled at Moi University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. This, he noted, had created more than 1,000 jobs.
He emphasized they were going to do everything to ensure every Kenyan within the country’s borders during the census night will be counted. Upon visiting homes, enumerators will seek information from the head of households.
“We are appealing to you as respected leaders to provide us with support in distributing materials and information about the census. We also urge you to encourage heads of households to welcome enumerators in their homes,” he urged.
The paperless census through the Computer Aided Personal Interviewing (CAPI) approach is expected to make the capturing of data faster, ensuring better data security and make the results available sooner than was previously possible.
“The census is an important process to which the government attaches great value, due to the need for evidence in planning.”
