All set for census to begin

Aug 25, 2014

ONLY people who will have slept in Uganda on August 27 will be counted during the exercise that kicks off on Thursday and ends September 6

By Pascal Kwesiga

 

ALL is set for the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) to start conducting the much anticipated National Population and Housing Census this week.

 

Only people who will have slept in Uganda on August 27 (census night) will be counted during the exercise that kicks off on Thursday and ends September 6.

 

According to UBOS, the census night which is the official date that will be relied on to know the number of people who will have been in Uganda for this census will also help the institution to prevent double counting.  

 

“Even if the enumerators come to your house on August 30 they will ask who slept in this house on August 27. Only people who will have slept in Uganda that day will be counted and that is the number we want to keep in our records,” Francis W. Mashate, the national census coordinator said.

 

UBOS is currently conducting the last round of training for the enumerators and parish supervisors before the enumeration begins.

 

Mashate said the training for the enumerators and parish supervisors follows similar trainings at the national and district levels.

 

He explained that district census officers were trained at the national level while sub county chiefs who will serves as sub county census supervisors were trained at the district level. The district census officers will serve as districts census supervisors.

 

Mashate said enumerators and field supervisors who are being trained by the sub county census supervisors will complete their training on August 26.

 

The enumerators, Mashate said, will be introduced to the members of the households in their respective enumeration areas on August 27 by the LC I leaders during the familiarization tour.

 

“They (enumerators) will come back to peoples’ homes on August 28 to count them. Only one person (enumerator) will come to your home during the counting days,” he added.

 

UBOS said all census materials including questionnaires, manuals for enumerators, aprons, bags for carrying questionnaires, badges, pencils, rubber and pens have been dispatched to sub counties.

 

A total of sh78b, Mashate, said has also been dispatched to the districts including Kampala Capital City Authority to fund the last round of training and facilitate the ten days enumeration exercise.

 

The census exercise which should have taken place in 2012, ten years after previous one in 2002, was delayed by two years due to lack of funds.

 

Mashate explained that enumerators will visit peoples’ houses holds strictly between 7:00am to 6:00pm save for the floating populations. “These include those who sleep on streets, parking yards and truck drivers,” he added.

 

The provisional and final census results, Mashate said, will be available by the end of November 2014 and December 2015 respectively.

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