KAMPALA – Ambassador Milton Kambula has urged the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) to revise the census questions and focus on the most relevant ones, while also popularizing the questions to ease the enumeration process for the remaining census days. He made this call while appearing on a national television station, sharing his insights into the ongoing national population census process.
“If the population can round up, beat enumerators, and confiscate their gadgets, then they were not well-prepared for the process and haven’t understood the importance and benefits of being counted,” Kambula said, highlighting the need for better preparation and public awareness.
The Ambassador suggested that UBOS should have circulated the research questions to the population in advance, allowing members of the public to fully understand and prepare the necessary information. He emphasized that the enumeration process should be a guiding conversation, focusing on questions that drive social, economic transformation, Vision 2040, and SDGs, which would inform the National Planning Authority to better plan for the country.
Kambula criticized the inclusion of personal and irrelevant questions, such as those related to condom use, last sexual encounter, and children outside marriage. “How could an enumerator ask such personal questions, especially in the presence of family members? We may end up seeing broken marriages,” he said, emphasizing the need for more sensitive and relevant questions.
He attributed these issues to the lack of leadership and inadequate preparation of enumerators, most of whom have no knowledge of conducting research. “Uganda’s problem has always been a lack of leadership; we always work on fire-fighting programming, and this cannot give you good results. We seem to be focused on an event, but the census is not an event; we had to have enough preparation, especially on the policy,” Kambula said, highlighting the need for better planning and leadership.
Despite his concerns, the Ambassador encouraged Ugandans to participate in the census exercise, emphasizing its importance for better planning and service delivery. “Spare your time and participate so that you can demand better services from the government, as the census will capture the current status of most Ugandans for better planning,” he said.
