Census Day - Kenya

Of all the spurious excuses for a national holiday - 'Census Day' tomorrow must take the biscuit. Industries and businesses are up in arms over the additional cost of it all, compounded by the fact that there is currently power rationing eating heavily into profit margins in Nairobi.

A Kenyan friend (fellow School mum) says she and others are highly suspicious of the census. Why does it need to be carried out so often? (every 10 years). Why are they asking people to cite their tribe? There was a bit of a debate over whether to do this I gather, but ethnicity is included on the form that must be completed. She said she suspected that census information was used by masterminds behind post election violence, to identify where specific tribal groups were clustered - pin pointing hotspots for clashes. She was also skeptical about the security issues of sending 'enumerators' in red t shirts around to everyone's houses this evening in order to count. 'I told my askari to keep them outside the gate' she said. 'afterall,' she said, 'anyone can get hold of a red t-shirt - I am not letting strangers into my house.'