Covid-19 pandemic affecting housing, population census

The National National

THE current Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the national population and housing census this year, acting statistician John Igitoi says.
He said release of funds had been delayed, the planned structural listing and mapping (SLM) in selected areas in the country had not been initiated due to lockdowns and restrictions imposed on gatherings.
The National Executive Council approved the deferral of the census to this year and an approved funding of K71 million, which is yet to be released.
The funding covers:

  • For SLM activities around the country;
  • To undertake initial publicity campaigns; and,
  • To initiate the procurement of materials and supplies for enumeration.

“SLM is an essential pre-census activity to ensure complete census coverage during enumeration in July 2021,” Igitoi said.
He said publicity activities were important to solicit cooperation from respondents and support from local officials.
Igitoi said the procurement of materials and supplies like printing census instruction manuals, questionnaires and forms needed to be initiated to ensure that the delivery of these items was done prior to training in different local level government areas in May.
“Although K71 million has been approved by the NEC for this year for the SLM and publicity, it is likely that this amount will no longer be released as the funds have likely been diverted to address the Covid-19 situation in the country. Thus, given the time constraints and unavailability of funds, it is not possible anymore to undertake SLM this year as a separate operation from enumeration,” he said.