The Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG) has called for the release of more information relating to the outcome of the 2022 Census of Population and Housing conducted by the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats).
Last December, the Government released some details of the 2022 census of population and housing with an emphasis that census data is critical to sound decision making in development planning, resource allocation and policy formulation.
According to the Zambia Statistics Agency, Zambia’s population as of 8th September 2022 were 19,610,769.
The male population was 9,603,056 and the female population was 10,007,713.
CCMG Programmes Manager Peter Mwanangombe said ZamStats should expedite the finalization of the census report and ensure to provide age and Ward Level Data from the 2022 Census of Population and Housing.
Mr. Mwanangombe said the Preliminary Report on census was missing age variables and that population was not distributed to the ward level.
“Following the completion of the 2022 census of population and housing and consequently release of the Preliminary Report, CCMG noted that the preliminary report was missing age variables and that population was not distributed to the ward level. We therefore call upon the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) to expedite the finalization of the census report and ensure to provide there in the following;Clearly disaggregated age data, paying particular attention to the Vote Age Population (VAP) which is critical for voter registration, and Distribution of population data to the ward level,” Mr. Mwanangombe said.
He said data from the 2022 Census of Population and Housing is key for planning purposes by institutions that include the Electoral Commission of Zambia and Department of National Registration Passports and Citizenship.
“CCMG further calls on the Ministry of Finance and National Planning to actively ensure that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, through the Department of National Registration Passports and Citizenship, collaborates with ZamStats in setting targets for the Integrated National Registration Information System (INRIS), as well as ensure that the exercise is driven by census data. Furthermore, we call on the Electoral Commission of Zambia to enhance its collaborate and cooperate with ZamStats to ensure coherence and use of census data in processes, such as boundary delimitation and voter registration, and to use census data, particularly the VAP data, to inform its targets in the ongoing registration of voters,” Mr. Mwanangombe.
When releasing the preliminary census details in December 2022, Minister of Finance and National Planning Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane said the census of population and housing is the benchmark for key national indicators and statistics that, if well used, could support the socio-economic transformation of the country.
Dr. Musokotwane said despite some challenges faced at the commencement of the exercise, particularly in urban areas, the 2022 e-census was successfully undertaken as it achieved universal coverage.
“You may be aware that this is the first time our country has conducted an electronic census (e-census) through the use of tablets. This is a notable improvement in our statistical practices and a major departure from the last five censuses which were paper-based. Further, in order to improve the census coverage, satellite technology was used to create electronic maps for use by the more than 40, 000 census field staff. I would like to inform the nation that despite some challenges faced at the commencement of the exercise, particularly in urban areas, the 2022 e-census was successfully undertaken as it achieved universal coverage. This means that data collection was conducted in all the 38,570 enumeration areas countrywide,” Dr. Musokotwane said.
We also need the churches themselves to be better regulated. Have you seen what happened in Kenya? We can’t just have churches springing up from anywhere and pastors becoming overnight millionaires! Church leaders should be closely monitored as they yield enormous power over their congregants. If the pastor tells your wife to leave you even when you are a good husband, I’m sorry bwana you will be a bachelor again.
Let there be sanity in worshiping God and let’s do aways with fake “profits of Gold”.
What then are you going to do after that? Why don’t you do your own census.