NPA wants data law to criminalise withholding information
The Executive Director of National Planning Authority, Dr Joseph Muvawala (R) being enumerated by Ms Christine Kayongo, the Jinja City Planning Officer (L) at his home in Kivubuka Village, Jinja North City Division on May 12, 2024. PHOTO | DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- Dr Muvawala proposed this while being enumerated by a team from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) at his home in Kivubuka Village, Jinja North City Division on Monday.
The Executive Director of the National Planning Authority (NPA), Dr Joseph Muvawala, says Uganda needs to adopt a data law.
Dr Muvawala proposed this while being enumerated by a team from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) at his home in Kivubuka Village, Jinja North City Division on Monday.
“The data law, once adopted, will encourage any institution, company or person to share data once approached,” he said, adding that such laws are not in the country.
Justification
Dr Muvawala said the NPA has learnt that some government heads are withholding information from enumerators, warning that such people will be held accountable.
“I urge all government body administrators to share information. We would like to know the taxation policies of this country, the feeding habits, disease burden, education information and health services. I know some of the questions are annoying, but it's very important,” he said.
He emphasised the need for heads of government bodies to share information with Ubos enumerators during the ongoing census exercise, saying all data collected is very important for better planning of the country's future.
“This census determines many things that need to be done for the country in terms of borrowing money for provision of services to the people,” he added.
According to him, without current information, it will be very hard to plan for any institution or community in the country.
The current projection of the country’s population, he said, is 44 million people and Busoga is 10 per cent of that number (4.5 million) people, which he theorised is more by now.
The Principal Statistician in the Outreach and Quality Assurance Department of Ubos in Jinja City, Mr Emmanuel Menhya, said they have not registered any crime or attack on any enumerator.
“Our staff are being welcomed by the residents through the local leaders and everything is moving on well. Some households with security personnel resist, but after being talked to, they allow our staff to work,” he said.
This is the 11th census exercise being conducted in Uganda since 1948 and the 6th since the country attained independence with a population of 9.5 million people that has kept increasing to about 34.8 million in 2014.
