- Enumerators will key in data and load it into a central server for analysis
- Mobile devices assembled locally by JKUAT and Moi University
Image: /FILE
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is banking on digitised census to end the politics that marred the exercise in 2009 when the results were disputed.
North Eastern leaders claimed the results gave a population count lower than the figures on the ground.
The issue then was that the results of Mandera East, Mandera West, and Mandera South as well as some parts of Turkana were not accurate.
Census boss Zachary Mwangi said that will not be the case this time as the agency has deployed digital data capturing devices with an inbuilt control system for accuracy.
Enumerators will key in data offline – given that some areas lack internet connectivity - and then load it into a central server for analysis and interpretation.
Mwangi said there is a mechanism in place to ensure the data is safe, adding that no private information will be published.
“We are confident because we have tested this device. We have experienced personnel. Our team has learned how to do the digital census. The technology has been tested as late as April,” he said.
KNBS defended the expenditure of Sh18.5 billion, saying the money is spread over five financial years running from 2015/16 to 2020/21.
The director general said the bulk of the money will go to paying enumerators. Most of it was expended on procurement of mobile devices assembled by JKUAT and Moi University.
“We can attest they have successfully installed the application in all the 164,000 devices. In the process, we have created a lot of employment and transferred technology,” he said.
Mwangi hailed the US Census Bureau for supporting the country come up with the digital data capture system.
“The local hardware assembly was advantageous as we had a team looking at the quality assurance aspect. Every device has been tested for battery power and back up; from where we stand, we are sure this is going to work,” the KNBS director general said.
He said the agency has done two pre-tests to ensure data capture application is working, which is an improvement from 2009 when only one pilot was conducted.
After administering a questionnaire, enumerators will share the data with content supervisors who will forward it to ICT supervisors for analysis.
KNBS has recruited 2,400 ICT supervisors to man the digital census, 24,000 content supervisors and 138,000 enumerators.
The enumerators will work with village elders and national government administrators to access households.
“The police will be deployed to help the team. We are working on the deployment plan but there will be a lot; nearly all the police officers will be involved,” Mwangi said.
Regional commandants have been briefed about the census in the 129,115 enumeration areas.
The census boss discouraged Kenyans from politicising the process saying there are many more uses of a census beyond resource allocation and boundary delineation.
“There are many more uses of a census beyond political purposes – resource allocation, boundary delineation. You can’t plan if you don’t know who you are planning for; you can’t formulate policies or monitor implementation of the interventions,” Mwangi said.
He called on Kenyans to support the process by cooperating with enumerators and giving accurate information.
“The data will help planning and for future research. Since our data is relied upon by many agencies, the idea is to come up with information that is credible, accurate and reliable. This is only possible with the support of Kenyans,” the KNBS director general said.
Mwangi said borrowing from lessons of the last census, the agency has sought to engage locals as enumerators to increase the area of coverage in North Eastern.
“We have engaged the area leadership in forums deliberating on how we are going to do the count. Locals have been recruited as enumerators and content supervisors. Village elders are also involved and we are sure we will do a complete count.
“The beauty of statistics, demography or any research work is the consistency of numbers; we have the capacity and technical expertise to deal with cases of non-responses.”