Bungoma County Census manager Mr. William Etwasi says the 2019 housing and population census is unique in the sense that it will be administered using computer aided personal interviewing technique.
He said enumerators will capture the information directly using tablets to increase accuracy and for faster processing of data unlike in past censuses where the information was collected manually.
Bungoma County Commissioner Stephen Kihara has however asked local FM radio stations to stop misleading the public on the outcome of the just concluded recruitment exercise of census personnel.
Kihara said the recruitment exercise was above board adding that it was concluded on time as per the national secretariat guidelines and without any hitches.
He said thousands of applications were received for each advertised positions but only a handful were required.
Kihara said the recruitment exercise was very competitive and has brought up serious unemployment statistics going by the number of youth who applied for consideration.
He said most of the youth who applied for consideration have gone through tertiary training and are holders of diploma, degree and some even master’s degree certificates yet they are not employed anywhere, hence the huge volumes of applications that the recruitment teams had to sieve through.
The County Commissioner assured the public that those selected will be notified accordingly as soon as all the sub counties conclude the work.
He said priority especially in the position of enumerators was given to unemployed youth who met the requisite qualification. They were subjected to a written interview.
According to Mr. Etwasi, a total of 1017 applications were received for the advertised position of ICT supervisor but only 58 were required.
He said 26,000 applications were received for the position of content supervisor but only 586 have been selected to do the job.
Etwasi said that for the position of enumerators, a total of about 130,000 applications were received but only 3,735 are required to undertake the work.
He informed a County census committee meeting held at the County commissioners’ boardroom on Monday that compilation of lists for successful content supervisors and enumerators is on course.
Etwasi disclosed to members that on conclusion of the recruitment exercise, the next phase will encompass training of the teams.
He said the County has received Sh17, 060,900 to facilitate training activities for content supervisors and enumerators.
He said training of ICT supervisors will be conducted regionally and will commence on July 24 and continue up to August 1st this year.
This will be followed by training of content supervisors at the county headquarters from August 5th to 11th while enumerators will be trained at various points in sub counties where they have been enlisted from August 17th to 21st.
By Roseland Lumwamu
