Census committee posts additional 60 enumerators to Balambala constituency

Garissa county census committee has deployed an additional 60 enumerators to Balambala constituency as ordered by a Nairobi High Court.
The order seen by KNA also directs that KNBS makes adequate arrangements to ensure all residents of Balambala constituency, including the pastoralists who have temporarily moved are enumerated by 31stAugust.
Addressing the press after chairing an urgent meeting to deliberate on the order, area county commissioner Meru Mwangi said that after hours of deliberations the committee unanimously agreed to have the reserves of enumerators and those who had completed their enumeration areas be posted to Balambala immediately.
The committee went for the reserves and those who had completed their enumeration areas because it was ‘practically impossible’ to recruits new ones given that the national exercise ends Saturday.
Balambala MP Abdi Shurie moved to court to petition KNBS to deploy an additional 60 enumerators to carry out the population and housing census. In the petition KNBS director general and KNBS area named as 1st and 2nd respondents.
The order also reads in part that ‘the High Court sitting in Nairobi, (Justice Makau of the constitutional and human rights division) on 28th August 2019 after hearing all parties in the above matter directs that KNBS to deploy 60 additional enumerators to Balambala constituency to carry out enumeration exercise.
KNBS was represented by the Attorney General.
“This is a court order and as a committee mandated to oversee this year’s population and housing census in the county, we had no option but to comply with it,” Mwangi said.
“We had to meet as a committee in consultation with director general of Kenya National Bureau of Bureau of Statistics to look for the additional enumerators. We worked late into the night and I can report that by this morning the enumerators were in Balambala,” he added.
Mwangi urged the leaders from the area to support the deputy county commissioner, the chiefs and their assistants together with the additional enumerators, KNBS officials and census committee to ensure that all the residents of Balambala are enumerated as directed by the court.
According to sources at least 70 to 75 percent of Balambala residents had been enumerated by Thursday.
Efforts to reach Balambala MP failed as his mobile phone went unanswered.
By Jacob Songok