Treasury CS Henry Rotich has said that the national census to be done on August this year will be digitized, and the data will be processed more efficiently. Speaking at a Nairobi Hotel during an update of the upcoming exercise, CS Rotich said the first of a kind use of technology is expected to be a game changer, “This is the first census to be undertaken in an new dispensation of devolved system of governance,” he said. The last national census was held in 2009, and the population then was 38,610,097. Close to 165,000 mobile devices have been secured by the government for the exercise.
The CS said this year’s census is expected to provide comprehensive statistics for a wide range of indicators ranging from fertility, mortality, education and labour among other things. CS Rotich said that preparatory activities for the census commenced three years ago, and there are already teams on the field undertaking mapping, used to create enumeration areas in readiness for the actual enumeration.
He said the technology will help in different areas, including delivery of data and timely release of results, “Sometimes we do a census and wait almost a year to release the results. In 2009, the results were released in a record, less than a year,” he noted, adding that this time round it’s expected the duration won’t be more than three months. He urged Kenyans to give officials from the Kenya National Bureau of Standards the ample time they need to carry out thee exercise, revealing there adherence to international standards. He also said the digitization will enhance the quality of the data, “As it has inbuilt checks, correctional system responses, and cross validation with other records.”
