Residents wait for enumerators in vain as census kicks off with glitches in West Nile

On Friday, Mr George Adriko of Arua City woke up at 6:30 am expecting census enumerators to count his family. By 8:30 am, he was ready, but by 11:00 am, no one had arrived. Disappointed, he left for his errands.

"I had to adjust my schedule hoping the enumerators would come early. But by 11 am, no one came. I don't understand why they didn't come though our LC informed us about the census today," he said. His hope of being counted remains for the nine days left to conclude the exercise. 

Residents in Arua and Maracha districts faced disappointment on the first day of the National Population and Housing Census as enumerators failed to reach their homes. 

By midday, several residents interviewed reported not seeing any enumerators.

In Maracha District's Oluvu, Obiba, and Agai town councils, many enumerators faced difficulties logging in to their CAPI devices. 

Mr Emmanuel Etriki, an enumerator in Oluvu Sub-county, described the frustration and wasted time saying, "We were ready to start today, but the CAPI login is causing problems. This census work is becoming stressful, and we're spending a lot on transportation trying to fix the issue."

Ms Lillian Afusia, another enumerator in Obiba Sub-county, doubted the exercise's success due to these challenges. "We have shortages of census gadgets like CAPIs. Some of us received them just a day before the census. Even now, some enumerators, especially supervisors, are missing reflector jackets and CAPIs."

She added that promised data pre-loading on the devices never arrived by midday. Enumerators and supervisors are using their own data and airtime to conduct the census.

Many frustrated enumerators who couldn't log in returned home, waiting for the ICT department and district census officer to resolve the problems.

Adjumani District also faced material shortages. According to Mr. Fred Moini, essential items like bags, umbrellas, writing materials, and visibility equipment were missing. "We're still waiting for these materials," Moini said.

One anonymous enumerator in Adjumani worried that these irregularities might affect their payments.

In Arua district, the Resident District Commissioner, Mr. Geoffrey Okiswa, confirmed that not all census materials had arrived by Friday morning, impacting the smooth launch of the 10-day exercise.

Success in army barracks

The 4th Infantry Division reported a smooth census process within its barracks. Capt Hassan Kato, the 4th Infantry Division Public Information Officer and Maj Majid Waku (Brigade Political Commissar) encouraged soldiers to cooperate and provide accurate information. This collaboration between the UPDF and Uganda Bureau of Statics (UBOS) is a first for the census exercise in all its establishments of Acholi and West Nile sub region.

Compiled by Felix Warom Okello, Clement Aluma, Marko Taibot, Robert Elema and Scovin Iceta