This archive report was first published on 20 August 2019.
Published on August 20, 2019, the government has warned Kenyans that refusing to participate in the upcoming Census 2019 will come with severe penalties.
According to the Statistics (Amendment) Bill and the Accreditation Service Bill, signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta, those who fail to answer enumerators' questions or provide false information will be fined Sh. 100,000 or jailed for six months.
Additionally, those who play hide and seek with census enumerators or boycott the count will also risk a Sh. 100,000 fine or one-year jail term.
“Some of the sensitive topics Kenyans are likely to be asked to reveal include stillbirths in the household, cause of deaths in the household, and the identity of the biological parents of children in the household,” says the report in the Business Daily.
“Any person who hinders or obstructs the director-general or any authorised officer in the execution of any powers conferred under this Act commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both,” says the Act.
