President Uhuru launches 2019 national population census
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday formally launched the 2019 national population and housing census with a call to Kenyans to co-operate with enumerators.
The exercise is set to commence on the night of Saturday, August 24 and last through to August 31.
Uhuru said the intended population tally would help the government in planning, measuring service delivery and help determine resource allocation to the 47 county governments.
Unlike previous ones, the President said this year’s exercise would be fully digitised.
“The government is committed to evidence-based planning and decision making across all spheres of our development,” Uhuru said during the launch held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
“We will be using this year’s census to gauge the extent which we as a country as delivered on our development agenda,” he added.
The Head of State observed the data collected will enable the country to measure its social status and will receive valid input necessary for charting the road map of the next step in achieving vision 2030.
“This year’s census is our first opportunity to receive statistics vital to devolution, including those that will be used to ensure equitable allocation of resources across the 47 devolved units as well as delimitation of boundaries at constituency and ward levels”
Uhuru said for the first time in Kenya’s history, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) would leverage on technology to ensure the census exercise is conducted as per expected global standards.
The enumeration, he noted will be captured electronically through a paperless process.
