By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
NATIONAL
The Uganda People’s Congress-UPC has asked Ugandans to avail their particulars in the upcoming National Population and Housing Census – NPHC 2024.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) will conduct a nationwide NPHC between 10 May and 19 May, 2024. The exercise will commence with a census night due on Friday 9th May, 2024 and the government has declared Friday a public holiday.
Speaking to journalists at their party headquarters, Sharon Oyat Arach, the UPC spokesperson urged Ugandans to massively participate in this exercise for better social services delivery.
“Every Ugandan should avail him/herself to be counted because there is no way you are going to ask for service delivery. If you are not counted, you are not going to be planned for,” she urged.
Arach noted that the refusal to be counted in the NPHC 2024 will not only affect service delivery but also policy formulation.
On Monday, UBOS warned that Ugandans who resist or sabotage this exercise will face up to six months in jail or a fine of 600,000 shillings, or both.
Punishments are prescribed for persons convicted of violating the provisions of section 29(3) of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) Act 1998.
It establishes that, “Any person who prevents an authorized official, in this case enumerators and other Ubos officials, from carrying out their legal functions, refuses to provide requested information or makes false statements, commits a crime. If found guilty, the penalties provided for by law are imprisonment of up to six months or a fine not exceeding thirty monetary points (600,000 shillings), or both.”
“We will use peace, but if we go to your house the first time and you refuse, the second time you still refuse, the third time you still refuse, you can be taken to the police and then to court,” said James Muwonge, director of methodology and statistical coordination of UBOS.
He added that slum dwellers, employees working night shifts and the homeless will be among the first to be counted.
“We have agreements with the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to reach out to all these groups of people… and enumerate them on the first day of the census,” he said.
Additionally, the UPC cautioned against criminals who may hide in this enumeration exercise stating that enumerators and other UBOS officials have been identified from other members of the community.
