This archive report was first published on 24 August 2019.
As the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) prepares for the national population census, which kicked off on August 24, 2019, Kenyans have taken to social media to make light of the exercise.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i had ordered the closure of social joints like bars from 5pm to 6am for two days, starting from the evening of August 24, 2019, in a bid to ensure a smooth census process.
However, this directive has elicited jokes from football fans, who are set to miss the English Premier League matches between Arsenal and Liverpool, as well as Manchester United and Crystal Palace.
One football fan quipped on Twitter, 'Matiang'i there are only two options here, we will either be counted in the bar, or in the cells, but we will definitely be in the bar (for the games). Do you know how boring watching a game at home is? Where do you buy more drinks when your team scores?'
Another fan posted, 'Mr Matiang'i, on Saturday, Liverpool will be playing Arsenal. That match is bigger than the Kenyan government and the census itself … if you do not allow us to watch that game in clubs and go home by 9pm, then we won’t open the door for your people'.
Some Kenyans have also made fun of the census question about one's marital status, with one person joking, 'will the question, “do you have another wife?” be posed to you in the presence of your wife or will you be called aside to answer it?'
