The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party has questioned the accuracy of the findings in the final report on Uganda’s National Housing and Population Census 2024.

FDC contends that the reported statistics might have fallen short of accuracy on the days of data collection and reporting that was reflected by the unrealistic and manipulated figures in the final report.

Last Thursday on October 3rd 2024, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) released the final report of the Uganda National Population and Housing Census revealing that Uganda’s population stands at 45.9 million people however following public scrutiny on the reported figures.

Following this backlash, UBOS has since then pulled down the 2024 Census Report from its website after the public pointed out contradictory figures in the report like the population of the people in the Acholi sub-regions showing a drop in the figures from 2,131,443 in 2014 to 1,941,913 in 2024.

While addressing journalists at the FDC party headquarters at Najjanankumbi, the deputy Party Publicist Walid Mulindwa Lubega says census data is crucial for informing policy decisions, development planning, and resource allocation in Uganda and any slight manipulation or falsification of such data affects the general operations of the Government. 

He explains that the exercise was marred by short falls as many people were not counted as a result of lack of capacity building on the side of the enumerators which significantly impacted the quality, accuracy and reliability of the census data. 

To address all these concerns, Lubega says it’s essential to review the census methodology, data collection processes, and quality control measures and UBOS should provide clear explanations and evidence to support their released report.

By Olivia Nabaggala

7th October 2024

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