By Samuel Ouma |@journalist_27
Just few hours after Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) released 2019 census results, a section of political leaders have strongly disputed the outcome threatening to take legal action against the agency for what they term as misrepresentation.
“I’m shocked to see those results because that is not we expected. I think there is something fishy that has been done. But we shall have a meeting as Mt. Kenya leaders to look into these figures keenly and take a position on this issue,” reiterated a lawmaker from central Kenya.
The disgruntled leaders fear that the number recorded will attract fewer resources from the national government calling KNBS to review the numbers.
The result of the statistics which for the first time was captured electronically was released on Monday, November 4 by KNBS managing director Zachary Mwangi in the State House, Nairobi. The data indicated that the population grew by 9 million in the last 10 years. This year’s population stands at 47.5 million compared to 37.7 million in 2009.
There are more women than men as the former account to 50.5 per cent of the population. Also Kenyans are reportedly having less children with the statistics showing that average household size has declined since 2009.
“The average household size has decline to 3.9 in 2019 from 4.2 in 2009,” said Mr. Zachary Mwangi.
The 2019 census recorded the number of intersex people for the first time and they were found to be 1,524.
Speaking during the announcement of the results President Uhuru Kenyatta said the data will help the government in planning purposes.
“The numbers released today will go a long way in guiding successive planning for the benefit of all Kenyans. I expect that KNBS will release the other census volumes and make them available to planners,” said Mr. Kenyatta.