Politicians from Northeastern Eastern are now calling on residents to come out in large numbers and be enumerated in the upcoming population and housing census slated for next month.
The national exercise will be carried between August 24-30.
Speaking separately, the leaders, who included National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale, Mandera governor Ali Roba, his Wajir counterpart Mohamed Abdi and nominated senator Falhadha Iman, urged the residents to give the exercise the seriousness it deserves.
Duale asked the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics to allocate more time to the census in the region due to the ongoing drought.
“As leaders, we will be on the forefront to mobilise our people to turn up for counting. But it should also be noted that since the failure of April - May rains in over 10 counties, there is serious scarcity of water, food and pasture for the people and their livestock, this may affect the exercise,” said Duale.
Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi said that for the exercise to be a success, there needs to be coordination between those charged with the responsibility, local leaders and administrators in the ground.
“This time round we hope the government will be adequately prepared for the exercise. As leaders we will offer the necessary support required including mobilising people to be at a specific place on the days of the exercise,” said Abdi.
Mandera Governor Ali Roba, speaking in Mandera town, urged residents to give the exercise the seriousness it deserves by availing themselves for counting, saying that the exercise means a lot in terms of resource allocation.
He urged the national government to post enough enumerators, noting that the region was vast and chances of not capturing everybody were high.
“I want to believe the government has put in adequate measures that will ensure that the exercise is a success. We all know that our region is vast and our people keep on moving from one place to another in search of pasture and water for their animals. this are some of the things they should put into consideration,” said Roba.
He also called on security apparatus to enhance security before during and after the exercise saying that criminals might want to use the opportunity to disrupt the exercise.
Nominated senator Falhadha Iman urged the government to use the media, especially vernacular stations, so that those in the interior parts also get to know about the exercise.
“We still have people, especially in the rural parts, who have no idea that such an important exercise is going on. It is time we showed the country and the world at large that we also have the numbers as a region,” she said.
On Tuesday, Northeastern regional commissioner Mohamed Birik cautioned chiefs and their assistants against condoning doctoring of the numbers.
Birik said that the only people eligible to be counted during census are those who will have spent the night of August 24 and 25 in a given homestead.
In march this year, during a pastoralist leadership summit conference that was held in Garissa, the leaders vowed to educate and mobilise the entire population to come out and be counted.
They urged the government to review the benchmarks of census in other countries with pastoralists populations saying that doing so will go a long way in assisting them know the best way to go about the exercise.
They also vowed to ensure that the KNBS designs and implements an appropriate methodology to enumerate all the residents of the pastoralist areas.
