The Uganda Bureau of Statistics(UBOS) has responded to claims that digital tablets given to census workers were faulty and affected the National Population Census.
This comes after reports of issues in some areas including Kampala, Wakiso, Mbale, Bukedea, Mbarara, Jinja, and Moroto, where enumerators faced problems starting the census as planned.
Enumerators complained of trouble using the tablets provided by UBOS, saying they couldn’t log in at headquarters or access the system. They claimed these problems delayed the census in many areas.
In a press release issued on Friday evening, UBOS, Ed Mukiza Chris assured the public that all census devices and applications are functioning well, and they expect the census to continue smoothly until May 19, 2024.
He clarified that the tablets worked fine and the census began successfully. He said most districts had a smooth start, with 94,099 enumerators and supervisors already active in the system.
“The tablets have not faoled to work.In majority of districts enumeration started smoothlywith 94,099 enumerators and supervisor participating having been assigned roles and responsibilities in the enumeration system.” He stated
Mukiza explained that about 20,000 workers faced issues, mainly because they were hired outside the electronic recruitment system by local governments.
“The enumerators who have been assigned responsibilities are executing their roles successfully without any problem.20,000 are the ones reporting machine failures and most of them were hired behind the electronic recruitment system” he added
He said UBOS has instructed district officers and census representatives to quickly assign roles to affected enumerators so they can work effectively.
Over 119,460 enumerators, including 500 soldiers, alongside 18,483 supervisors, were hired to play instrumental roles in this initiative.
The National Population Census exercise, that started from the night of May 9th will continue until May 19th, 2024.
The exercise was launched by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on December 12th, 2023, following the last one conducted in 2014.
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