Police in Tana River disperse wedding ceremony to allow Census to take place

Police in Tana River County were Saturday night forced to disperse a wedding ceremony at Madogo Township in Tana North Sub County in order to allow the Census exercise to take place after establishing that houses around the town were deserted.
Confirming the incident Sunday, Tana River County Commissioner Mr. Oning’oi Ole Sosio said Census officials visited homes in the town and found most were unoccupied prompting the census committee to immediately deploy police to stop an ongoing wedding ceremony.
Speaking to the press on telephone, Mr. Sosio said, the national exercise merits priority adding the census should be given all the necessary attention since it is an exercise that takes place once in ten years.
He said all the residents went back to their respective houses and homes and the exercise proceeded well thereafter.
Meanwhile the County Commissioner has appealed to the Gadsan community to desist from boycotting the Census and promised that their interests will be considered under the section coded ‘Others’ in the Census enumeration form.
The administrator was responding to claims made by the vice-chairman of the Gadsan Community Mr. Omar Garad that the community will not participate in the Census exercise because they had no code to represent them.
Mr. Garad said, in the 2009 Census, Gadsan Community were provided with a code in the Census forms but added in 2019 they had not been omitted and that consequently they have opted not to be counted until they are given their own code in the Census.
By Simon Guruba