A Garissa court has ordered the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics to open their central servers for Northeastern leaders to access the 2019 census data.
Three governors and 30 MPs from the region challenged the 2019 census figures.
They said the data released by KNBS was fake and did not match the number of people living in Mandera, Garissa and Wajir counties.
Justice Charles Kariuki directed KNBS to open their central servers and also provide the tablets used during the exercise to the petitioners.
“The petitioners through their appointed IT experts and under the supervision of the court's deputy registrar shall be allowed access to the central servers and the tablets or devices which were used to collect data during the 2019 census,” the order reads in part.
The areas for scrutiny in Mandera include Mandera West, Banisa, Lafey, Mandera East and Mandera North subcounties.
In Garissa county the data to be released will be for Garissa Township, Balambala, Lagdera and Dadaab.
The IT experts will also be allowed access to data for Eldas, Tarbaj, Wajir West and Wajir North subcounties.
Judge Kariuki ruled that the legislators are free to appoint a joint IT expert or one for each of the three counties but not more than three.
The experts will team up with the court registrar in gathering the census data in the devices provided by KNBS.
“A joint report by the IT experts and this court's registrars on this exercise and figures gathered of people enumerated as captured in the tablets and central services at KNBS shall be filed within 30 days of this ruling,” the court ruled.
However, the court declined to stop the Treasury, the Commission on Revenue Allocation and IEBC from delimiting boundaries.
Kariuki gave a rider that if IEBC begins reviewing boundaries before the petition is heard and determined, then they are at liberty to go back to court.
The court noted that any attempt to stop the process would not only be detrimental to the commission’s work but the other 44 counties who would be prejudiced and are not parties to the petition in court.
The Northeastern leaders listed several areas where they allege that the variance between the enumerated and the released census results exists.
They say that the variance in Mandera county is at -905,291, Garrisa’s variance was -537,575 and Wajir was missing 630,762
They also claimed that the KNBS broke the law by rushing to release the results without undertaking a post-enumeration survey.
(edited by o. owino)
