PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has directed Regional Commissioners in the country to strengthen communications in order to address arising challenges in the ongoing Population and Housing Census.
The exercise kicked off countrywide on August 23 this year, where as of yesterday 5,060,158 households with a total of 22,004,910 people had been covered.
The Premier also directed the RCs to control census misconducts in social media including abuse of reflective jackets, by effectively using their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) teams.
The PM told the RCs in a virtual meeting held yesterday while at his Magogoni Office in Dar es Salaam that, every region should have statistics collected every day, in order to identify the shortfalls and address them for smooth execution of the exercise.
“You are required to have statistics collected everyday by 8pm… this will help to identify areas with challenges and increase manpower to the areas where the counting pace is slow,” the PM said.
Majaliwa also directed regional and district census committees to make close monitoring of the exercise in their respective areas to ensure that the census clerks do their work accordingly.
He said RCs in collaboration with census committees should make sure that all households are covered within the given time frame.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statics (NBS) Director General Dr Albina Chuwa said that the number for Tanzanians who provided their information to census enumerators has reached 22,004,910 as of yesterday.
“Analysis shows that all 36 regions have managed to count people at an average of 36.8 per cent with Unguja North Region leading by covering 49.7 per cent of its households,” said Dr Chuwa.
Earlier, Dr Chuwa told the ‘Daily News’ that her office provided the statistics in order to show the progress of the exercise, which she said is on course, adding the president is responsible for releasing the census data.
She said her office will not continue to release census statistics because such power is vested in the president, who is required by the law to provide information in relation to the country’s population after completion of the exercise.
The NBS boss said that statistics are confidential, thus it is restricted to make them public before the exercise is concluded, to enable the country to get the actual population of the country.
She further said that, since the exercise kicked off last Tuesday, no major challenges have occurred, noting that people are cooperating well with census clerks by providing the needed information.
In another development, national coordinator of the census, Mr Seif Kuchengo, warned Tanzanians, especially social media users against circulating mocking pictures of census enumerators while in the field.
According to Mr Kuchengo, the act of circulating mocking pictures against census enumerators was against the law.
Since the national exercise started on Tuesday, this week, different photos, taken without their consent, have been going viral ridiculing census clerks, while carrying out their duties.
“People should understand that this is a national exercise and must be respected. Above it, the enumerators put on reflective jackets labelled with the coat of arms of Tanzania, the symbol which must be respected,” Mr Kuchengo elaborated when speaking to the ‘Daily News’ over the phone.
He further explained that acts of releasing video when questioned by the census clerks is also against the National Bureau of Statistics law, which insists on information confidentiality.
In a related development, Mr Kuchengo insisted that the census clerk and the person who is interviewed should sit face-to-face, discouraging the kind of sitting side by side.
“The clerks should observe the training instructions and guidelines given while conducting the exercise,” he said.
The Police Force has also ordered individuals who robbed census tablets from enumerators to surrender the devices immediately, otherwise, they risk facing stern measures.
The police issued the order on Wednesday following reports of theft of census tablets reported in Arusha and Katavi regions.
Speaking to the journalists, Police Spokesperson, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP) David Misime said the police force was in search of those involved in the theft of tablets and will bring them to justice.
“I am calling upon whoever involved in such crime to return the gadgets immediately, otherwise, the law will follow its course,” SACP Misime emphasised.
SACP Misime warned that people who buy and receive stolen electronics equipment, especially telephone technicians, should be careful to avoid trouble.
He further told the census clerks to be careful with the tablets and should use them for intended purposes, noting that in some cases, the tablets were stolen due to negligence by some enumerators.
“I urge the census enumerators to apply skills they obtained during training, including how to feed data and keep the government devices at safe places,” he stressed.
The Police order comes after reported incidents of thefts of the tables in some regions.
During the first day of the exercise on Tuesday, this week, the census clerk of Majimoto Ward at Mpimbwe District Council in Katavi Region, Kenan Kasekwa, was attacked and robbed of a census tablet.
In another incident, a census clerk Sarapia Kiwango in Arusha was also robbed of the tablet.
