By Frank Kamuntu
As the National Population and Housing Census 2024 kicked off, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Museveni spared time to answer Census questions on their household before they were counted.
The Executive Director / National Census Commissioner, Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Chris Ndatira Mukiza oversaw the enumeration exercise this afternoon at State Lodge, Nakasero.
President Museveni and the First Lady, Maama Janet were enumerated at 12:30 pm by the UBOS- Head of department for Demography and Social Statistics, Dr. Vincent Fred Ssenono.
Speaking after the enumeration exercise, the President congratulated Dr. Mukiza and his team for what he termed as a ‘comprehensive exercise’, stating that the questions being asked are very comprehensive and detailed.
‘’I congratulate Dr. Mukiza and his team, if this is what they are doing everywhere then it is good,’’ he said.
“I was happy with the questions because I could see that they are aiming at getting data that is useful for planning,” he added.
Later, Museveni took it to his social where he revealed that actually enumerators declined his tea.
”The enumerators declined my offer of tea, stating that the rules prohibited them from accepting it. Maama and I complied with the rules, which is beneficial because some individuals might attempt to offer them alcohol, causing them to neglect their duties,” Museveni posted on X.
Maama Janet and I participated in the national census civic exercise this afternoon at Nakasero. I am pleased with the questions because they collect personal data and cover various other areas that indicate our economy, growth, and needs. I urge all Ugandans to fully cooperate… pic.twitter.com/46oC8hcKUG
— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) May 10, 2024
President Museveni, therefore, asked Ugandans to cooperate with the enumeration team for them to be able to capture necessary information for future planning.
“I ask people to cooperate with them. I hear there is a group of people who say they do not want to be enumerated; they should stop that because they interfere with our work. This information is used for planning and to get solutions for your problems,” he pointed out.
The 1st technologically driven census (Digital Census) aims at generating a total population of Uganda as per census night.
The National Census Commissioner, Dr. Mukiza noted that this census will generate baseline information on persons who benefited from different government programs such as Parish Development Model (PDM) funds, Emyooga, and persons with disability funds, among others.
He added that the census for the first time will generate day population in eleven major cities, such as Kampala, Mbarara, Fort Portal, Jinja and Mbale, among others.
Dr. Ssenono, revealed that the exercise will help in identifying population which is still in the subsistence economy, youth unemployment as well as persons with disabilities by type.
The National census exercise which officially kicked off today will end on May 19, 2024.
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