The Kajiado County Statistics Officer (CSO), Johnston Wanjala was on Tuesday morning arrested, arraigned at the Kajiado law courts and charged with sabotaging the on-going National Housing and Population Census.
Wanjala was charged that on the night of August 25, 2019, Wanjala being the CSO, he failed to comply with the conditions of oath by instructing the County Statistics Representatives and enumerators to stop the 2019 census activity before the stipulated time.
Wanjala who appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate (SPM), Margaret Kasera pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released on a cash bail of Sh.100, 000 or a bond of Sh.200, 000.
The case will be mentioned in September 10 and hearing was set for January 27, 2020.
Elsewhere, the Environment Cabinet Secretary (CS), Keriako Tobiko urged Kajiado residents to cooperate with the census officials by giving the correct information during the exercise.
Tobiko who was in Kajiado to monitor and supervise the activity said census is not just a head count of persons but an important exercise that would aid the government in planning and resource allocation.
“Census is not just taking a headcount of persons but it is an important tool for planning, management and resource allocation. We need to know more than just the numbers,” said Tobiko.
He added that despite minor challenges of network issues in some places, the exercise was going on smoothly and he is confident that everyone will be enumerated by August 31.
By Rop Janet
