As the period scheduled by the government for the 2019 national census draws near, several politicians have come out to call upon Kenyans to travel to their rural homes for the exercise.
Among the political leaders pushing Kenyans to travel to their rural homes is Muranga Senator Irungu Kang’ata.
Speaking at a local station on Tuesday, the senator said it is wise for people to go back to their rural areas to be counted for the sake of distribution of resources.
“If a county has more people then that county receives more funds,” Kang’ata said.
“If we don’t boost numbers in our rural areas thus funds will not get to the people thus no development in these areas.”
The senator went on to say if people go back to their rural areas for the census it will help in the distribution of resources.
“Resources will be distributed according to the number of people in an area and the need of a specific county,” he said.
The senator went on to say that he hopes the numbers will be legit and that the results will not take long before they are released.
‘The validation process should be legit and according to the law,” the senator said.
Garissa County Woman Representative Anab Subow has also made a passionate appeal to Garissa residents as the census fast closes in.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the outspoken legislator emphasised on the importance of participation in the decennial exercise.
She said that participation would pave the way for an increase in the allocation of resources to the county as the allocation of resources would be pegged on numbers.
“I urge the people of Garissa County who live or work outside the county to travel to Garissa for the upcoming census. Equally, I also urge all those in Garissa to come out for the census and be counted on the nights of 24th and 25th August. Through the census, the national cake and resources will be shared, more funds will be pumped to our county and constituencies and the national job sharing will be considered by our respective population,” read her post.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics will start counting people on the night of August 24 and continue up to August 31, 2019.
Mobile technology will be used for both cartographic mappings as well as enumeration.
KNBS has banked on the digitalised census to avoid the dispute that marred the 2009 process.
KNBS director-general Zachary Mwangi told a local daily in an exclusive interview that such disputes will not be witnessed this time due to the data safety mechanism that has been put in place.
” We are confident because we have tested this device. We have experienced personnel. Our tea has learned how to do the digital census. The technology has been tested as late as April,” Mwangi said.
