JKUAT and Moi Universities to Supply KNBS With Tablets For 2019 Census

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has contracted Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Moi University to supply it with the 164,700 digital tablets to be used for the upcoming population census.

This is going to be the first time the population census conducted every ten years goes paperless as earlier announced by KNBS Director General Zachary Mwangi.

Moi University will supply 40 percent of the 164,700 tablets needed while Jomo Kenyatta University will supply the bureau with the remaining 60 percent.

The tablets that will be supplied by the two local universities will cost 470.5 million shillings. Each gadget will cost around 15,000 shillings. The tablets will also be installed with tracking software, questionnaires and area maps.

Remote areas without electricity will be supplied with solar chargers during the process.

The 135,000 enumerators, 27,000 content supervisors and 2,700 ICT supervisors employed by the bureau are expected to begin their training and work starting July 15 to August 25.

This is going to be the most expensive population census to be conducted in Kenya as compared to the last one in 2009 and the previous ones.

In the 2009 census, 8.4 billion shillings was spent for the whole process. 5 billion shillings was used to pay the employees.

This year’s census, on the other hand, is expected to cost Kenyans a sum of 18.5 billion shillings.

The data is however expected to be released earlier due to the introduction of the use of technological equipment.

Preliminary results are expected to be ready by November, while the final results will be ready by next year February.

The data collected during the population census is always shared among government ministries and departments to help give guidelines on resource allocation and distribution of wealth.