Respond to all queries, urges PM

Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his wife Ida Odinga answer questions from census enumerator Collins Opiyo who is also the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics population and social statistics director. Census officials visited his Karen home for the count on Tuesday. Photo/MICHAEL MUTE

What you need to know:

  • Some communities have refused to divulge the number of children in their households saying it was a taboo for them to count children and even the animals in their possession.
  • PM says the statistics necessary for Kenya development.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has appealed to Kenyans to respond to all the queries raised by the enumerators in the on-going national census.

Speaking at his Karen home after being counted Tuesday morning, the PM dismissed as “misplaced reasons” the cultural excuses by some communities not to divulge some information.

Some members from the Pokot and Maasai communities had reservations in counting the women as adults and wanted them lumped together with the children, Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya told the PM and his wife Ms Ida Odinga.

There were also reports that some communities had refused to divulge the number of children in their households saying it was a taboo for them to count children and even the animals in their possession.

“At this time and age, we shouldn’t hang onto such misguided beliefs,” said the Prime Minister.

“A country cannot develop if it does not have the necessary statistics.”

Both the PM and his wife had strong words for such sentiments terming them as “very chauvinistic”, “a big insult” and “very backward.”

Mrs Odinga added: “Women are fully grown up and should be counted as adults.”

The tribe question also caused a brief confusion to the enumerators. While the PM was straight forward that he was Luo, his wife insisted that she was half Luo and half Luhya. “Fifty-fifty” she said.

But with no such provision in the census questionnaire, Mrs Odinga was listed as a Luo, her father’s tribe.

The minister had accompanied census staff to count the Prime Minister who had flown into the country on Monday night to be counted.

The Director of Population, Mr Collins Opiyo, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics boss Anthony Kilele and Planning permanent secretary Edward Sambili accompanied Mr Oparanya to the PM’s residence for the count.

Mr Odinga termed the last census (held in 1999) as a “big mess” given that the results were delayed and when they came out they were doubtful.

“We need accurate figures to plan for a non-sexist, non-ethnic and a non-racist country,” he said. “We are not overpopulated, we just need ensure equity in the distribution of national resources.”

Karen chief Wellington Wadhara said the residents, among them the PM, were “very positive” about the exercise.

However, he lamented that some of them were raising “many questions” before answering the ones asked by the enumerators, in effect making the exercise take longer than expected.

Meanwhile, Kenyans will have to wait until the 2019 census for the census to go online.

Mr Oparanya said the internet reach in the country was very low, for now, such that an effective exercise will not be possible.

But he said a national database to record deaths and births will be developed to let the census handle other demographic data that may not be obtained from the registration of people.