This archive report was first published on 23 August 2019.
Kenya's upcoming census has sparked concerns over data duplication, with some citizens questioning how they would be counted if they were away from home. However, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has assured Kenyans that there will be no duplication of data.
According to KNBS Director General Zachary Mwangi, enumerators will only capture data of people who have spent the night at a household. This means that if a parent has children living away from home, they will still be counted as part of the household.
“Parents will be asked how many children they have, but they will also be asked where the children are. Only the ones who are within a household will have their details captured,” said Chege, a KNBS official.
KNBS has also clarified that when they said they would be capturing fertility data, they meant the number of live births a woman has had, not her ability to have babies. This has allayed fears from some citizens who were worried about how their fertility status would be determined.
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has also warned against people traveling to their rural homes to be counted, citing reports of politicians planning to move people from urban areas to their home counties.
The census exercise is set to start on Saturday, and KNBS has assured Kenyans that the data collected will be used to advise the government on how to plan for the next 10 years.
