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Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has ordered the closure of all bars and nightclubs countrywide to pave way for the national population census.
CS Matiang'i said the joints will shut down at 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday to ensure everyone is at home when enumerators arrive for the exercise at 6 pm.
“We are going close all our social places especially the bars at 5 pm to give you an hour to be home before the enumerators arrive at 6 pm so that they can find you at home,” said Matiang'i.
Speaking in Embu on Wednesday, CS Matiang'i further assured Kenyans that the government had put up measures to ensure criminals do not take advantage of the exercise.
“No one will come from outside their sub-location, which means they know people around there, they are known and they know their way around,” he said.
He said all security officers have been recalled from leave to ensure that the exercise is conducted effectively.
Matiang'i urged Kenyans to cooperate with enumerators who will visit their homes.
This year’s census will focus on eight main areas namely; population characteristics, disability, education, labor force, ICT, livestock, agriculture, housing conditions, and amenities as well as household assets.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said all persons present within the borders of Kenya will be counted.
“This includes outdoor sleepers, persons on transit, individuals in hotels & lodges, those institutions such as hospital and prisons.”
The agency said Kenyans in the diaspora will not be counted but their family members in Kenya will be asked to give details of their kin who migrated since 2004.
“Kenyans in the diaspora will not be enumerated. However, people will be asked some questions about members who have migrated to other countries since 2004,” KNBS said.
KNBS Director-General Zachary Mwangi said the exercise will be done electronically, becoming Kenya’s first-ever paperless census since independence.
He said data entry will be done through locally assembled mobile electronic devices.
Sounds fair enough, but there are many people who will be on the road as well.