‘Bias’ censusrecruitmentworries Minister

MUCHINGA Province Minister, Malozo Sichone, says the centrally online recruitment of enumerators for the forthcoming Census of Population and Housing will disadvantage many people. Mr Sichone said the online centrally recruitment would disadvantage many people, especially those in rural parts of the country, who had no access to internet. The Minister said this when he addressed civil servants in Chama district. He noted that the recruitment of enumerators would only benefit people from the line of rail, leaving out the majority of well-qualified candidates in the rural areas. Mr Sichone stated that there are a lot of well qualified Grade 12 school leavers in rural areas with no access to the internet who had been left out in the recruitment process. He said he would not allow a situation where all the enumerators and supervisors for the national exercise would come from outside the districts of Muchinga Province. Mr Sichone said those in charge should revisit the arrangement and ensure that the recruitment process did not discriminate those based in rural areas. The Zambia Statistics Agency is scheduled to conduct national Census of Population and Housing in August this year which will gobble K758.2 million. Mapping for the same exercise has since commenced. The theme for the 2020 national Census of Population and Housing is “Everyone counts”. A national Census of Population and Housing is an official enumeration of people and structures to establish the number of people living in a country and housing units available. It also involves the gathering of demographic, social and economic information and housing conditions of the people. The last Census of Population and Housing in Zambia was done in 2010. It was the fifth national Census of Population and Housing since independence in 1964, with previous ones conducted in 1969, 1980, 1990 and 2000. -ZANIS The Sun