KNBS to hire special enumerators to register Samburu pastoralists

A Samburu man grazes cattle in Laikipia County. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KBS) will hire special enumerators to register pastoralists in Samburu county ahead of the national census in August [Photo, Courtesy]

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KBS) will hire special enumerators to register pastoralists in Samburu county ahead of the national census in August.

During the launch of the Samburu County Census Committee (CCC) at the Samburu County commissioner's boardroom, it emerged that Samburu county has special cultural needs that need to be addressed for effective enumeration of persons.

Samburu county secretary Bosco Ole Sambu noted that there is usually mass movement during boys’ circumcision period which takes place between July and August.

"Locals transverse the county back to their ancestral families for their boys to be circumcised and that may affect the census. Young morans also move in search of water and pasture," he said.

Samburu County statistics officer (CSO) Samuel Leparsaiya noted that a pre enumeration exercise will be carried out before the census day which will take place on 24th to 25th August.

Leparsaiya clarified that the pre-enumeration will improve coverage since it will identify households and special households such as prisons, schools, army barracks and cultural and nomadic activities such as those found in Samburu county.

"Pre enumeration will help us in identifying special challenges and help us allocate enough personnel to improve coverage, " he said.

The CSO further added that this year's census will be digital and will use GPS location and results from the field will be monitored as they stream in by content supervisors at the headquarters leaving no room for falsified data.