Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) Executive Director, Dr Chris Mukiza, has said that the Bureau has so far mapped 92 percent of the country ahead of this year’s National Population and Housing Census.
Dr Mukiza made this revelation on Tuesday while launching the household mapping activities in Mukono District.
The mapping exercise is one of the key preparatory activities undertaken before the actual counting of people.
“The mapping of households and geo-coding of households is aimed at creating an interactive map that shall be used during the 2024 census enumeration exercise,” said Dr Mukiza while launching the exercise at Mukono District Headquarters.
He defined a household as a group of people living together under the same roof and eating from the same pot.
“This census is technologically driven. It is paperless. It is going to be digital. That is why even in the recruitment process, we don’t tell people to write. So far, Mukono is doing well. It is the third in giving us many applications. The deadline was the 15th, which is this Friday, but we assessed and decided to extend it to give a chance to many people.”
He said as a pre-census activity, UBOS is mapping the whole country.
“We have so far covered 92% of Uganda. What is remaining is 8% and the greater part of it is Kampala Metropolitan Area; Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso. This shows the importance we give to Mukono and the greater Kampala. This was tactical. We wanted to do greater Kampala close to the census so that if there is any new structure, we don’t leave it out.”
He said they have started mapping and training listers to get GPS coordinates for every household.
“This will enable us to get a proper number of enumeration areas so that we leave no house behind during the census. So, mapping is what we are doing now. We are also visiting the training centres to see their readiness.”
“The first day of enumeration shall be 10th May 2024, and we are glad the government of Uganda has declared that day a public holiday.”
He said the census exercise will take only 10 days.
“Whereas the Census snapshot will be at 12:00 a.m. on May 10, 2024, there will not be any form of enumeration to be done at night; therefore, the public is warned against accepting anyone claiming to be an enumerator at night,” he clarified.
“This being a digital census, all payments to the enumerators and the enumeration supervisors shall be through their registered mobile money numbers. Only those whose numbers are registered as per their national identification will qualify for the payments,” he emphasised.
Rallying political leaders
Dr Mukiza who was accompanied by UBOS’s management team, implored the technical and political leaders of Mukono District, to fully take part in the forthcoming census through supervision of enumerators and providing security to both the Enumerators and the Enumeration equipment.
He said after the recruitment exercise, they would select enumerators and urged the district leadership to play its role as well.
He thanked the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Fatuma Nabitaka, who rallied all her colleague-leaders to fully support the Census Activities.
On her part, Nabitaka unequivocally confirmed her support and promised to fully be involved in the activity.
In his speech, Mukono District LCV chairperson, Rev. Peter Bakaluba Mukasa, thanked UBOS for giving them an opportunity and reiterated his commitment to the exercise.
“Mukono is ready for this national programme. It adds value and development to our district. When we conduct a census, it helps us a lot in planning, budgeting and knowing the people we are giving services in our district,” stated Mukasa.
He added: “We are ready to mobilise communities and work closely with you to attain better success in this programme.”
On her part, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Elizabeth Namanda, said they are already organising two centres at Kyampisi and Nakisunga.
“We have identified the persons and the mapping programmes are going to be conducted,” she pledged.
In his speech, UBOS Deputy Executive Director, Godfrey Nabongo, said every household must be listed.
“We will ask the age, gender, education level, the work you do, how many are women and how many are men to make it easy for service delivery or obtaining services,” he said.
In terms of publicity, Nabongo revealed that committees are being set up to sensitize people and emphasize patriotism.
“We want to people to know that the census is for our own good. We want to take it to schools and ensure teachers and students volunteer to spread a positive message of the census.”
He urged counsellors and chairpersons to use the various avenues to spread the message and radio announcers to add a census programme to the messages they send out.