Uganda Bureau of Statistics(UBOS) has revealed that the activities like geo-mapping of households that precede the census are nearing completion.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, UBOS Executive Director, Dr.Chris Mukiza said their team is soon completing the geo-mapping exercise and enumeration of area boundaries, adding that by the end of March, this exercise will be complete in Greater Kampala Metropolitan districts of Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso.
“We have been listing households in the country. We have done geo-mapping and so far, we have covered 90.3% validated data. There are some districts which think they have 100%. Now when we come back here, in our cartographic system, we find somehow other villages we skipped or other houses were wrongly mapped. So those ones too have to be done, that’s why we are standing at 90.3%,” Dr.Mukiza said.
He noted that so far, 50 districts have had 100% of their data validated, with another 58 at 90% and another 13 district at 80%.
Dr.Mukiza however urged district leaders to ensure households in their areas of responsibility are mapped.
“When your household or village is not mapped, chances are that the enumerators during the census may skip you, because we are going to be using an interactive digital map. You remember when I demonstrated that once an enumerator is given a certain village, when you key in the tablet, the area will come. Once you enumerate it, it turns green.”
The UBOS chief said some of the gadgets to be used during the enumeration exercise are soon arriving in the country, while others to be manufactured within the country.
“We are also using domestic companies to promote domestic production. One of our conditions for using them is to ensure that Ugandans are being employed. There’s a firm based in Mbale which is producing 20,000 tablets for us. That was the capacity they would manage, the rest we will be procuring from outside.”
“The first batch of these gadgets will be in the country by mid March and the last batch will come in by Mid April 2024. The bureau will also be procuring bags, reflector jackets and umbrellas for all enumerators.”
The census exercise that will take place on May 9, 2024 and this data will enable UBOS produce accurate and timely demographic, social, and economic statistics.
He urged all people who will be in the country during the census night to be cooperative during the exercise.
