Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) Executive Director and Census Commissioner, Dr Chris Mukiza, says the preliminary results after the National Housing and Population Census census will be availed in June 2024.
Population Censuses are generally conducted every 10 years and have as a primary objective the total enumeration of the population of a country to provide essential information on their spatial distribution, age and sex structure, and other key social and economic characteristics.
“On 10th May, we want to cover as many households as possible that is why the government has declared it a public holiday. We are going to carry out the exercise for 10 days from the commencement date,” said Dr Mukiza while appearing on NBS TV on Monday.
He added: “We have promised Uganda that the preliminary results after the census will be availed in June 2024. Today we are 44 days to the census night.”
For areas that have not finished listing, Dr Mukiza called upon the local leaders to facilitate the exercise to finish.
He also called upon city residents to participate in the exercise by allowing enumerators access to their homes so their family members could be counted.
“The challenge we have with the urban areas is the residential gates of most people are locked. Even during the listing exercise, the enumerators faced this challenge. We need people to open their gates to the enumerators to get information from every household,” he noted.
Paperless census
Dr Mukiza reiterated the fact that this year’s census will be technologically driven hence faster and efficient than the previous censuses.
“We are not going to use any paper in this census process. It will be a paperless census,” he said, adding, “Data collection will involve gathering information, correcting errors, editing, and performing other tasks. This means we will be able to analyze the data more quickly than in previous years.”
He said the Bureau’s data from the field is encrypted and only the statisticians or the data validators will be able to decipher it.
“We have bought data servers, processing, and storage servers which have been protected from hackers. The information obtained from the population is protected. We do not share individuals’ data with anybody.”
He said everybody the Bureau recruits and employs, takes an oath of secrecy hence the data is extremely confidential.
“We want to collect as much information as possible.”
Dr Mukiza also hinted at the myth associated with the census which poses a challenge, saying they are endeavouring to sensitize the public to dispel these myths.
“The census is a non-political exercise and that is why all stakeholders are being involved and participating,” he emphasized.