Raila counted

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has Tuesday urged Kenyans irrespective of their cultural norms and tradition to embrace the ongoing National Population census.

He asked communities whose beliefs and practices appeared to conflict with the exercise to co-operate and give the enumerators the data required arguing that the census was only to facilitate development planning of the country.

The Premier told the communities to discard retrogressive traditions especially those barring involvement of women and children in national statistics on flimsy and outdated grounds that they were not head of their respective families.

"At this time and age when we want the country to move to greater heights we should not hang o to such beliefs because we cannot address the development agenda unless we have statistics for planning" he said.

Odinga insisted that women were equal to men and termed the selective tradition insulting in modern times saying census was crucial to facilitate equitable distribution resource.

"We cannot entertain such misplaced sexist comments at a time when the nation wants to inculcate a non sexist, non racial, non ethnic and united society', he asserted.

The Premier made the plea at his Karen home when enumerators accompanied by Planning and National development Minister Wycliffe Oparanya and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Dr. Edward Sambili conducted the exercise at the Premier's residence.

The census officials took the Odingas through the questionnaires before the glare of press cameras for at least thirty minutes in a show of the seriousness the government had attached to the weeklong exercise.

The Premiers' wife Ida underscored the importance of inclusion of women in the statistics saying the figures would be used to project establishment of social amenities like schools and hospitals which were vital for both antenatal and post natal services.

She urged communities who in recent media reports have expressed resistance to take part in the exercise to shelf their hard line stance for the mutual benefit of their society.

On his recent Official trip to Italy with high powered government delegation, the premier regretted that the Kenyan tem at the International conference cut short their stay for a day to take part in the census exercise.

He said the conference deliberated on climate change, urbanization, wealth distribution and the perennial internal conflicts bedeviling the African continent.