WORK ON LESSONS DRAWN FROM THIS YEAR’S CENSUS

It is exactly one week today since the 2022 National Population and Housing Census kicked off. The population census officially ends today, marking the start of the housing census, which will take place over three days.

This year’s population survey was notable in that it was the most technologically advanced census held in Tanzania to date.

Gone was the tiresome paperwork that defined previous post-independence censuses in 1967, 1978, 1988, 2002 and 2012, and enumerators this time around only carried tablets linked to a central server at National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) headquarters in Dar es Salaam.

It was a huge leap forward indeed, but Tanzania was also in uncharted waters.

With technology playing a key role for the first time in a national census, it was not surprising that various hiccups cropped up along the way, although Census Commissioner Anne Makinda assured the nation that problems that were apparent on the first two days or so were swiftly resolved.

While technical hitches were to a large extent expected, the potential for misinformation was apparently overlooked. Not surprisingly, some people took to social media during the first few days of the census with all kinds of fabricated stories that were meant to either discredit the exercise, or discourage people from participating.

For instance, there was shameful misinformation about the time spent answering enumerators’ questions, and the type of questions asked. Needless to say, enumerators did not spend hours gathering information from each household. The questions were also pretty straightforward, and were not of an invasive nature.

Hopefully, the government has learnt an important lesson, and will take appropriate action to counter potential misinformation in the weeks and months leading up to the next census in 2032.

The government should also take note of other problems that cropped up, and ensure that they do not occur again in the future.

That said, it is our hope this year’s population census was a success, and will help the government put in place solid development plans for the next decade and beyond.

CURB DEFORESTATION NOW

Very few people, if any, will dispute the fact that Tanzania’s forest cover is disappearing at an alarming rate. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations puts the rate of deforestation in the country at a whopping 4,200 square kilometres annually. This is an alarming figure whichever way one looks at it because it means that Tanzania could turn in a parched desert nation in as few as 100 years.

The government has on numerous occasions assured Tanzanians that comprehensive measures are being taken to reverse the trend. All this is well and good, but success will depend on political goodwill and Tanzanians understanding and appreciating the gravity of the problem.

Deforestation is just one of the many environmental concerns that need to be urgently addressed for the sake of present and future generations.

Unless the environment is moved higher up politicians’ priority lists sooner rather than later, there is little hope that we will be able to effectively deal with threats posed by environmental degradation.