The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has announced an extension of the National Population and Housing Census enumeration deadline to May 25, 2024.
According to an official communication from UBOS Executive Director, Chris Mukiza, issued on May 18, 2024, this decision aims to ensure every individual in Uganda is counted for effective planning.
The extension comes in response to several challenges encountered at the start of the census on May 10, 2024. Mukiza explained that enumerators faced difficulties logging in on the first day, and some villages were not included in the system due to incomplete listing during the mapping process. Additionally, certain enumeration areas were hard to reach, further delaying the process.
“Another challenge was the geography of some villages missing on the system due to incomplete listing during mapping. There were also hard to reach areas where enumeration was constrained, making the pace of enumeration slow.” he said
Earlier, Mukiza had explained that the first day, there were issues with tablet malfunctions affecting 20,000 out of 120,000 enumerators, preventing them from accessing the UBOS portal to conduct the exercise. Additionally, some enumeration areas were reportedly missing from the system as reported by local governments.
He stated that UBOS resolved the login issues within one to four days by developing generic login details for villages, which became effective on day four of the census. This allowed work to begin in areas initially left out of the system.
Mukiza emphasized that the extension would provide enough time for thorough counting in the affected areas, ensuring the process concludes by the new deadline. He urged supervisors to maintain complete and high-quality work during this additional period.
Furthermore, Mukiza encouraged household heads who have not yet been enumerated to seek assistance from their village Local Council (LC) representatives. The village LCs will facilitate appointments with enumerators based on their availability before the extension period ends.
“House hold heads who have not been enumerated in the past days, make appointments with your LC chairpersons and agree on the date and time to be enumerated before the waiver period expires, ” he noted
Despite these setbacks, Ubos insists that some districts have reached the 100% mark in counting, including Budaka and Fort Portal. As of midnight on Friday, UBOS reported that over 84% of the population had been counted, with enumerators covering 1.2 to 1.4 million households daily.’
Mukiza previously reported that as of Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 60.2 percent of the targeted households had been successfully counted and their data fed into the system. This leaves approximately 40 percent of households to be enumerated in the remaining four days.
UBOS assures the public that the census will be comprehensive, covering all regions despite the initial setbacks.
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