West Pokot Governor Prof. John Lonyangapuo has disputed the recent census results terming it strange. He Governor has said the numbers are not adding up because the County has the highest birth rate, where nearly each woman has 7 to 8 children. His criticism adds to a long list of leaders who have already come out to dispute the census results in different regions countrywide.
According to the Kenya Population and Housing Census 2019, West Pokot County has 621,241 people.
The County boss who attended the Graduation ceremony at West Pokot Teachers College, said the numbers are shocking and threatened to take legal action against the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
He pointed out that he projected the numbers to be between 830,000 – 1.2 million people in West Pokot because the County has been leading when it comes to a high birth rate for the last 8 consecutive years. “ I have looked at the data and I was about to faint. We expected the numbers to be high,” he said “Where did they hide our people or who killed our people?”
He reiterated that in 2009, Pokot North sub County had 156,011 people and it’s funny it has only 134,485 people after ten years. “It means Pokot North women are barren or have refused to give birth for ten years…only a few people have died,” he lamented.
Lonyangapuo cited that Pokot North Sub County has more than 200,000 women and 60,000 children. “The women are many and have given birth to children who have joined Early Childhood Development education. More than 540 children are born every month in Kapenguria hospital and 60,000 every year,” he said, adding that only fifty percent of women give birth in hospitals and many deliver at home.
He said there seems to be a plot to economically and politically disadvantage some regions. “Population figures are critical in deciding the share of the national cake that a region gets. We will not allow the (presentation of) incredible figures,” said Lonyangapuo.