Kampala, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has issued a warning to enumerators regarding the theft of census tablets.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Chris Mukiza, the Executive Director of UBOS, cautioned that any individual who attempts to steal a census tablet will be tracked down and apprehended by the police.
“Those who are having intentions of stealing the tablets had better left them. Otherwise you will be taken to police,” Dr. Mukiza warned.
Dr. Mukiza further stated that anyone caught stealing tablets will not be eligible for police bond. Notably, the government invested Shs 132 billion in procuring tablets for the recent digital national census.
Upon the census’s completion, these tablets are intended to be distributed to parish chiefs for use in other national programs.
Last month, Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Chris Baryomunsi, announced that the census devices would be handed over to parish chiefs to support the Parish Development Model (PDM) initiatives.
Also Read: Census start marred by faulty gadgets, protests by enumerators
“The computers which are being used for the census enumeration, once the exercise is over, then these computers will now be given to the parish chiefs for them to make sure that all the data, all the information regarding PDM is put into the system and then can be analyzed,” Baryomunsi said.
He also revealed that the same tablets will be used for voter registration ahead of 2026 general elections.
