Census enumerator stabbed in Buikwe

Speaking from a hospital bed on Friday, Kalyango said: “Our supervisor last (Thursday) night told me to wake up early and relay an announcement on a megaphone, reminding locals that today (Friday) is a Public Holiday and that they should, therefore, stay home and be counted.”

He added: “While I was doing so, three men came from different sides and started beating me up, while one had a sharp object which he used to stab my right ear and left me for dead in a trench.”

Kalyango said he was rushed to hospital by a Good Samaritan who notified his family.

Namuwaya village LC1 chairman, Joseph Ssajjabbi, said he was surprised by the attack, saying such cases are rare in his tight-knit community.

“I think the people who attacked our enumerator knew him, thinking that he had gadgets belonging to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos),” Ssajjabbi theorised.

Njeru Division Police Commander, Ms Edith Basalirwa, said they have launched a manhunt for the suspects.

“It is true the attack happened and the case was reported at our station, but besides that, the exercise moved on well in other areas,” she said, adding that they managed to enumerate people in hotels, lodges and all roadblocks mounted at the New Bridge.

Glitches

In Busia District, the exercise started amidst a shortage of essential materials, starting with an enumeration of the floating population.

Shortly after midnight, the enumerators moved under the cover of darkness since they did not have torches.

Joel Shongola, one of the enumerators, said whereas they were promised torches, bags, umbrellas, reflectors, and sticks, none had been provided by Friday morning.

He said: “We are in the census night counting the floating population, but have no torches which puts our lives at risk since we are moving in deserted corridors and dark streets looking for key populations.”

Dennis Namuyala, another enumerator, said they need bags to protect tablets in case of rain, which hadn’t yet been provided. Umbrellas, reflectors and stickers, too, hadn’t yet been provided.

“We were supposed to have stickers on all the passenger service vehicles and all the trucks we have counted, which wasn’t possible,” Namuyala said, adding that for that reason, some truck drivers refused to be counted.

Another enumerator, who only identified himself as “Juma”, said whereas he had been given tablets, he had challenges logging in to the Ubos servers due to alleged system failure and persistent popping up of “training mode” on the monitor.

But after the glitches lasting for close to 15 minutes, the enumerators were able to log in and embark on their exercise, first by looking for street children while being escorted by a police patrol car.

Despite Busia town having close to 300 street children and men that were targeted among the floating population, only two managed to be counted and the rest escaped.

“It appears they ran away, fearing that we are going to arrest them since we are moving with police,” Namuyala said, adding that despite moving to Tororo Road, Market Square, Mbale Kidogo and Katanga, they found none.

Leonard Bahemuka Akiki, an official from Ubos, however, said the exercise had started “well”, with the counting of truck drivers, travellers and street children. “The exercises have started well since we were able to capture the target population during the census night.”

 He, however, acknowledged that they faced challenges, including logging in at the stroke of midnight, which he attributed to “huge traffic on Ubos servers.

Busia District Planner, Patrick Wabwire, said they had been able to achieve their targets on the Census Night by counting truck drivers, passengers in commuter vehicles, three buses and street children.

He further dismissed the enumerators’ complaints, saying despite the lack of “few basics”, the exercise went on “smoothly”, and they were in touch with the Ubos team in Kampala.

In Jinja City, the exercise was marred by faulty machines, and delayed deployment of enumerators, which saw several of them stranded after they were not allocated workstations, while those who were allocated had technical glitches with data collection as many tablets were not synchronized.

Many interviewed for this story said they have received training, but have not been allocated areas to cover.

A number of them reported at Jinja City Council at 6:30am, but by 11am, a section of them had either not been allocated areas or given machines.

Brian Mutiibi, the supervisor for Namizi Ward in Budondo Sub-county, said data, transport, and training allowances, among others, had not been provided to the enumerators, which proved their biggest challenge on the first day.

Jinja City Deputy Mayor, Fazira Kawuma, said although the city experienced the aforementioned challenges on the first day, “everything possible” is being done to ensure the exercise runs as planned.

Publicity and Advocacy Advisor for the National Population and Housing Census 2024, Alfred Geresom Musamali, acknowledged the challenges which he said were “nationwide”, but added that they are working around the clock to overcome all challenges.

By Philip Wafula,  Godfrey Masiko, David Awori & Rashul Adidi 

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