VICE President Dr Philip Mpango has called for citizen’s effective participation in Tuesday’s National Population and Housing Census to enable the government to properly plan the allocation of development resources.
He said, none of the people who will sleep in the country on the census date should be left uncounted, insisting that the government is well prepared to ensure the exercise is carried out effectively.
Dr Mpango made the statement on Friday during an event to handover 44 trucks to the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) in an event that was held at the Mikumi National Park, in Morogoro.
“All people who will sleep in the country on the night of 22 August to 23 August 2022 will be counted, and this is for our own development. Kindly we need cooperation from all members of the communities,” he said.
The Vice President also asked members of the community to avoid hiding people with disabilities during the count.
“We want to know how many people there are in the country with their classifications, be it men, women, children, elders, youth and people with disabilities. This will help the government understand and make better plans for development.” he said.
For her part, the chairperson of the committee of people with disability in Morogoro Magreth Mkanga asked parents to ensure all their children with disability are counted effectively.
Earlier, the Morogoro region social welfare officer Jesca Kagunila said in the financial year 2021/22, the region had a total of 14,713 people with disability.
“Out of them, 11,415 were adults and the remaining 3,298 were children,” she said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said that preparations for the forthcoming census have been completed by 96 per cent with the majority of Tanzanians being aware of the crucial exercise.
He said until yesterday 99 per cent of Tanzanians were aware that August 23 is census day, noting that the remaining 4 per cent include few things to be accomplished by a day before the exercise.
“We are confident that all the preparations will be attained by 99.999 per cent within the remaining days for the exercise to be conducted smoothly,” Mr Majaliwa.
The Premier made the statement shortly before sending 115 Ngorongoro residents to Msomera Village in Handeni District, Tanga.
He expressed gratitude to President Samia Suluhu Hassan for facilitating preparations of the important exercise for the development of the country.
The PM assured Msomera residents that they will be counted at their new residential area, calling upon them to cooperate with census officials in providing information which they will be asked during the population count.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan has declared August 23, this year to be a public holiday to pave the way for smooth undertaking of the national population count.
During the 7th National Census Steering Committee meeting, held recently in Dar es Salaam members were informed that a study conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that 99 per cent of the population was currently informed of the forthcoming exercise at present as compared to 96 per cent in June, this year.
