The government has started dispatching census materials to districts.

The first consignment destined for a total of six districts was on Saturday, April 27, flagged off by the planning state minister Amos Lugolobi.

The event took place at the warehouses of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and was attended by a number of top UBOS officials including the entity's executive director Dr Chris Mukiza.

The cargo included 3410 tablets and other items to be used in the census.

Speaking during the event, Lugolobi hailed UBOS for the milestone, adding that, unlike the previous censuses, Uganda will not be using manual questionnaires in the 2024 census.

"We have the ordinary tablets but we also have the more sophisticated ones," he said, adding that these have more applications and are more tolerable of rough handling including falls and are waterproof.

Other govt processes

He said after the census, the sophisticated ones are going to help the government with other processes of government including elections, Parish Development Model (PDM), and National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) activities.

He said recruiting staff for the census is in the final bend, adding that training of staff at the national and regional levels has been completed.

"The next and final level is for enumerators and their supervisors. That one is set to commence on Monday, April 29. This is therefore to confirm to the country that we are on track for a census due on May 10. "

He said the entity is now remaining with minor issues including provisioning of the devices (tablets) and giving them the necessary applications.

"As you have witnessed, this is going on right now,” he added.

He urged local governments to mobilise their communities and support the census.

"I also implore my colleagues the Members of Parliament to deploy themselves in their areas of jurisdiction to mobilise the people there to participate in this exercise.

"This is not a survey, it is a census that is intended to provide coverage of the entire Uganda population,” he said.

Lugolobi assured Ugandans that the information provided was going to be kept secret and would not be released to anyone, including the tax authorities.

He added that the laws don't allow UBOS to do that (give away confidential information). 

He explained that the data is aggregated and that is how it is presented.

Aggregated data 

"You are not going to find your name mentioned anywhere and the information is not going to be released to anybody so we want full participation.

"The information collected is going to help those various communities in terms of the provision of services to their areas. For example, the census will help us to know who has water and who doesn't and which areas have health facilities in short supply," he noted.

The minister said the data from the census will aid planning, adding that that is why they are calling for the full participation of all Ugandans.

Mukiza named the first six districts where the consignment is headed as Gulu district, Apac, Alebtong, Amolator, and Otuke, adding that efforts are underway to dispatch to the remaining districts.

Uganda conducted the first census in 1948 and since then the population has been growing, and estimates revealed last December put Uganda's population at 46 million.

The census exercise is therefore geared at giving the country accurate data to help inform help in planning and other requirements.