Secrets of the census saga

• INVESTIGATION: How conflicting figures compiled by the Statistics Bureau on the one hand and NSIS on the other, and the surge in population in the North forced the government to shelve results

Fears that last year’s population and housing census figures were doctored explain the decision by the government to shelve the provisional results, Sunday Nation investigations show.

Informed sources told the Sunday Nation that a meeting to brief the President and the Prime Minister on the census results ended prematurely after figures from the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) contradicted those compiled by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

According to NSIS statistics, the population in North Eastern Province had increased by a staggering 140 per cent since the last census in 1999.

If the NSIS figures were to be believed, it would put the population in North Eastern province to 2.2 million, up from 962,144 in 1999.

The intelligence agency attributed the high figures to infiltration of the province by aliens from the neighbouring war-torn Somalia. The country has been without a government since 1991.

On Saturday, the government issued new guidelines for the issuance of identity cards in the province to ensure aliens do not acquire the vital document. However, it was not clear if the move was related to the census saga.

Under the new guidelines, local residents have been given powers to scrutinise the list of the vetted applicants. The list would be placed on public notice boards at the local level and at the district commissioner and the provincial commissioner’s offices.

Addressing a leaders’ meeting in his boardroom, area PC James Ole Serinai said that the move was aimed at stopping refugees from acquiring the citizenship document and reducing corruption among registration officials.

He said applicants aged 25 and above and returnees would be referred to the DCs and the district security and intelligence committee for further investigations and approval before they are issued with the ID cards.

Also included in the 15 new procedures is that the finger prints of those applicants rejected would be taken and kept by the National Registration Board.

The National Security Intelligence Service and the Criminal Investigation Department officials shall be attending all vetting meetings.

The provisional census figures show that North Eastern Province also recorded the second highest growth rate. It was further noted that North Eastern was the only province, apart from Nairobi, whose male population outnumbered that of females.

More men

Planning and National Development minister Wycliffe Oparanya confirmed that provisional census figures for North Eastern and Nairobi showed the number of men was more than women.

“This is true especially in towns because of rural-urban migration involving men looking for jobs,” Mr Oparanya noted.