National census kicks off

Aug 28, 2014

All security agencies have been put on a high alert as the National Population and Housing Census that kicks off.

By Vision reporters       
                   
All security agencies have been put on a high alert as the National Population and Housing Census that kicks off today across the country.


According to the security minister, Muruuli Mukasa, the police, army and intelligence agencies have been put on a high alert to deal with criminals planning to take advantage of the ten days exercise to wreak havoc.

The security forces, he said, will remain on a high alert until the exercise has been completed.

"Given the importance of the exercise I would like to inform the public that security has been beefed up to ensure the exercise is conducted smoothly," Muruuli added.

Muruuli who was flanked by the state minister for finance (planning), Matia Kasaija and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) executive director, Dr. Ben Mungyereza, told the press at Media Center in Kampala yesterday that they have deployed security in all enumeration areas ahead of the exercise.

The government has also advised the public to beware of criminals who may pose as enumeration officials to commit crimes against them.
trueSamuel Isabirye, an enumerator asks Loyisa Nansiri during the census in Church Zone Najjanankumbi in Kampala. PHOTO/Eddie Sejjoba

Muruuli reminded the public that enumeration officials would visit their household strictly between 7:00am and 6:00am during the exercise that closes on September 6.

"Do not open unknown persons beyond 6:00pm. We urge you to demand appointment letters from them if you are suspicious," he added.

Information for planning purposes
The information that will be generated during the census exercise, Kasaija said will be used for planning purposes.

Without information on demographic, number of people, housing conditions and the socio economic wellbeing of the population, Kasaija said, Uganda cannot successfully implement Vision 2040 and the national development plans.

Sensitive questions

A total of 83,000 enumerators who have been deployed across the country, Kasaija, said were trained on how to ask "sensitive questions" on the number of children and deceased family members in a manner that is not irritating to respondents.

"The information on deaths is important because if we find out that seven children died of malaria in a village we shall heighten measures against the disease," he explained.

According to statistics from UBOS, there are about 57,300 villages in the country. UBOS has divided the villages to about 79,200 enumeration areas with each enumeration area comprised of about 140 to 150 households.
trueBashiru Lukungu, a supervisor at Najjanankumbi instructs enumerators to go to the field. PHOTO/Eddie Ssejjoba

"There are villages that cannot be covered by one enumerator and we have divided them into several enumeration areas depending on the population size. We have between 15 to 25 enumerators for each zone in Kampala because of the high population," Godfrey Nabongo, the UBOS Public relations and Communications manager said.

Kasaija explained that only those people who slept in Uganda on August 27 (Census night) will be counted regardless of their nationalities. According to UBOS, the census night is the official date that will be relied on to know the number of people who will have been in Uganda for this census.

"This is our reference census night and we not asking people to stay where they have slept (yesterday). We shall ask respondents where they slept on August 27," he added.

 

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