Let’s make good use of census extension

The revelation that the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) has allocated six extra days for enumerators to complete the exercise in hard-to-reach areas and villages where login issues were previously encountered is much welcome. However, we must make sure that we use them efficiently to avoid the issues that many Ugandans have raised over the past 10 days.

First, it is imperative for us to understand that a credible and reliable census data is essential for informed decision-making, resource allocation, and policy formulation at the national, regional, and local levels. From the Census night on May 9, to the elapse of the initial period of the exercise, many Ugandans, especially those on social media, showed intent to be counted and eagerly waited. Many shared that they had been expecting enumerators at their homes in vain.

While some of the comments were made in haste, many were genuine and showed a great attitude towards the exercise.

Towards the end of the counting, Ubos took the blame for the slow start to the exercise, citing technological glitches and bad weather.

This publication has previously reported that some of the login challenges were encountered because the enumerators had unsynchronised tablets which failed to capture the particulars of individuals. While in some parts of the country, the enumerators were unable to reach homes due to floods and bad terrain.

Now, Ubos says the six additional days are also expected to incorporate hard-to-reach areas where enumeration was constrained and villages that were not previously captured due to incomplete listing during mapping.

Critics of the exercise, including some that have written opinions and letters to this newspaper, have called out the government for poor planning yet they had a whole decade to prepare. Some have said local communities were not adequately engaged to raise awareness about the census, its purpose, and the importance of participation. Outreach activities, public education campaigns, community meetings, and involvement of local leaders and organizations were far in between, if not absent altogether in some parts.

Be that as they may, we call upon the responsible authorities to ensure that the bonus days are used efficiently to capture accurate data. When all is done on May 25 as promised, we hope that the government will have a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to assess the conduct and outcomes of the census, including adherence to established procedures, data quality, and reliability.  We hope that we can use the experience of this exercise to provide better assessments and recommendations for improvement in future. We are looking forward to the results soon.

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