The amount of money that each Kenyan who got Census job will walk home with

By Shukri Wachu.

Each Kenyan who has been hired as an enumerator in the population census exercise will walk home with Ksh24, 000 after a 16-day exercise, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) director-general, Zachary Mwangi Chege, has told K24 Digital.

“Each enumerator earns Ksh1, 500 per day. They will be contracted for 16 days. That means each enumerator will go home with Ksh24, 000 at the end of the entire exercise,” said Mr Mwangi.

The statistics chief said the Government has hired 135, 000 enumerators to conduct the exercise.

All the 135, 000 enumerators, therefore, will pocket a collective pay of Ksh3.24 billion.

Other personnel hired to facilitate the exercise are 27, 000 content supervisors and 2, 700 ICT supervisors.

The 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, which is the eighth of its kind in the country’s history, will cost the taxpayer Ksh18 billion, revealed Mr Mwangi.

“That money is used in three different phases: the mapping stage, the enumeration phase and data analysis stage,” he said.

Mr Mwangi said that Kenyans who won’t be at home on the nights of August 24 to August 31 will still be counted in the population census at the joints they would be in, including lodgings.

In the exclusive interview with K24 Digital, Mr Mwangi said those who will be counted away from home fall under the non-conventional participants.

Non-conventional participants include Kenyans in hotels, lodgings, people in transit, schools, hospitals, prisons, children’s homes, street urchins, immigrants, and detainees.

Those who will be at bus stations on Census Day, will also fall under this category, KNBS boss, Mr Mwangi, said.

The Kenyans who will be counted at home are categorised under the conventional household setting.

“The bottom-line of the exercise is to have all Kenyans counted,” Mr Mwangi told K24 Digital.

“If you won’t be found in a household, or non-conventional setting, a toll-free line will be provided so that you can call to facilitate your enumeration,” said the KNBS director general.

“Preliminary results should be out after three months. The basic reports on the census will be shared within six months and detailed analytical results should be released in one year’s time,” said the KNBS boss.

Mr Mwangi says “it is a must” for each Kenyan to take part in the census exercise, failure to which one risks spending six months in jail, or parting with a fine of Ksh100, 000, “since he or she would have contravened the Statistics Act”.

“Households whose occupants have already been keyed in will be numbered to show that the exercise had already been conducted in that setting,” said Mr Mwangi, adding: “Kenyans are asked not to erase the numbers until the counting period ends”.

Enumerators will visit households between 6pm and 10pm, said Mr Mwangi.

“One hundred households make one enumeration area.”

“The questions that Kenyans will be asked include: name, age, sex, religion, ethnicity, marital status, education, occupation, ICT-awareness, housing characteristics, whether they engage in agriculture, whether one has any physical disability and one’s fertility (women),” said the KNBC chief.

“If one does not want to reveal the ethnic community that he or she belongs to, then they will just fill ‘Kenyan’ as their ethnic group,” said Mr Mwangi.

KNBS estimates that the enumerators will take at least 30 minutes in each household, or non-conventional setting.

“The enumerators will have badges to identify them. The identifiers will contain their names, titles, and number. They will also have reflector jackets,” said Mr Mwangi.

All the enumerators, the KNBS chief said, had at least a C (Plain) in KCSE.

“Reference nights are on August 24 and August 25, which are the main enumeration nights. If everyone won’t be counted on those two nights, then the exercise will go on for another five days,” said Mr Mwangi.

“If the total of seven days end, and some Kenyans won’t have been counted, then the members of each household will be asked to reveal how many people slept in their houses on the nights of August 24 and 25,” said Mr Mwangi.