Kampala Population Varies
KAMPALA MAYOR Ssebaana Kizito has rejected the national population census results, and demanded a fresh counting exercise.
KAMPALA MAYOR Ssebaana Kizito has rejected the national population census results, and demanded a fresh counting exercise.
The provisional results indicated that Kampala district has a population of 1.2 million people, a figure that the mayor says is inaccurate. It is much smaller than the City Council’s estimate of 2 million, and therefore makes it difficult for KCC to plan with any degree of accuracy. The city authorities have therefore declared that they are ready to conduct a fresh counting exercise with the government.
The mayor is both right and wrong. Right in the sense that KCC would certainly need accurate demographics for proper town planning, and also right because while the figure that the national census determined is almost certainly accurate, it may not serve KCC well because of the dynamics of urban work/residential movements.
He is wrong to assume that the national census was inaccurate, and wrong to demand a recount on the basis of questionable figures. On a day-to-day basis, Kampala’s population, like that of any big city, has two distinct characteristics — a daytime figure that includes workers and the hordes seeking recreation and other activities from neighbouring suburbs, districts and trading centres, and a night time figure which is essentially composed of those who reside within the city bounds. Because the bigger part of the census exercise was conducted on a day when offices, public transport, commercial and social places were closed, the people who were counted were basically the night time residents. Yet the City Council would also require the day time figure for planning.
The national census gives various institutions a platform to work from. KCC should, without undue acrimony, use this foundation to work out its peculiar requirements safe in the knowledge that Kampala’s population varies from night to day, weekday to weekend.
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The provisional results indicated that Kampala district has a population of 1.2 million people, a figure that the mayor says is inaccurate. It is much smaller than the City Council’s estimate of 2 million, and therefore makes it difficult for KCC to plan with any degree of accuracy. The city authorities have therefore declared that they are ready to conduct a fresh counting exercise with the government.
The mayor is both right and wrong. Right in the sense that KCC would certainly need accurate demographics for proper town planning, and also right because while the figure that the national census determined is almost certainly accurate, it may not serve KCC well because of the dynamics of urban work/residential movements.
He is wrong to assume that the national census was inaccurate, and wrong to demand a recount on the basis of questionable figures. On a day-to-day basis, Kampala’s population, like that of any big city, has two distinct characteristics — a daytime figure that includes workers and the hordes seeking recreation and other activities from neighbouring suburbs, districts and trading centres, and a night time figure which is essentially composed of those who reside within the city bounds. Because the bigger part of the census exercise was conducted on a day when offices, public transport, commercial and social places were closed, the people who were counted were basically the night time residents. Yet the City Council would also require the day time figure for planning.
The national census gives various institutions a platform to work from. KCC should, without undue acrimony, use this foundation to work out its peculiar requirements safe in the knowledge that Kampala’s population varies from night to day, weekday to weekend.
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