A female enumerator who was reported missing Sunday as the census begun in Kabete sub-county of Kiambu County resurface Monday morning unharmed.
Gladwell Mwihaki Ngige a student from one of the public universities in the area was reported missing from Uthiru when the census team reported on duty to begin enumerating people.
According to Kabete Deputy County Commissioner Mr. Malack Namayi, the content supervisor had tried severally to trace her but was not successful until this morning when she reappeared to the surprise of the team.
Talking to KNA from Kabete DCC office Monday, area assistant county commissioner Mr. Peter Thiong’o explained that the enumerator reported to the office saying that she had travelled far from her home and that she lacked fare to return on time.
The parents of the girl were equally disturbed as they engaged her friends and relatives to look for her, said the ACC.
He added that they were relieved when she reported on duty as her absence was going to affect the census process in the area.
“She even had the machine with her and when she returned. We were happy as she spared us the pains of reporting the issue to the police,” said Thiong’o.
Only last week, two enumerators who reported to their stations in Juja while drunk and disorderly were dismissed from training. Elijah Mbugua was consequently arraigned in court and charged with the offence. They were also replaced before the exercise to enable the replacements to undergo training.
From Lari sub-county, two enumerators who also reported for training while drunk were replaced and area Deputy County Commissioner Mr. Aaron Koros said the training exercise ended on a good note without further ugly incidents.
According to Kiambu sub-county DCC Mr. Kiarie Njuguna, the area did not experience any incidents as the exercise was smooth.
Kiambu County KNBS Coordinator Mr. Willy Konde told KNA that at the Kirigiti remand home, the census team was denied access to the premises as they were not accompanied by uniformed police officers.
Meanwhile, census officials in Laikipia County have reported hitches in transmitting data collected in the field to the national server after the gadgets failed to send the information to the headquarters in Nairobi.
The worst affected area was Laikipia West Sub County where 36 tablets have failed to transmit the data to the national server since the exercise started last Saturday.
County Commissioner Daniel Nyameti said that those gadgets that had failed to relay information to the servers were however, being replaced so that the enumeration can go on smoothly.
“Some gadgets failed to transmit data collected despite having been in good working condition when they were tested before the start of the exercise. We are now replacing them with others and have those that failed to be reconfigured,” Nyameti said Monday at his Nanyuki office.
He added that that the issue was a technological challenge that was not unique to Laikipia since in other regions, similar challenges were witnessed but was quick to add that once the gadgets were reconfigured and the Access Point Name (APN) changed, they would be able to transmit the census data.
“Those gadgets that fail are sent back to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) technicians Nairobi for reconfiguration and new settings so that they can continue to be used,” Nyameti added.
Migori County Commissioner Joseph Rotich has directed Assistant Chiefs working along borders to ensure no foreigner is counted as Kenyan national.
Rotich warned that Assistant Chiefs would be held responsible if foreigners from neighbouring countries were counted as Kenyans.
Commissioner Rotich reiterated that chiefs should ensure Kenyans were counted as Kenyans while foreigners as such and warned that individuals who would give wrong information to the census officials would be punished by law.
By KNA Team
