Drama ensued in Roysambu area, Kasarani, in Nairobi after census enumerators took to the streets demanding to be paid.
The enumerators assembled at Garden Estate Secondary School on Thika Road bringing the exercise to a standstill.
One of the enumerator told Citizen Digital: “We took part in the census training and were told that we would be given Ksh. 150 for lunch and another Ksh. 150 for transport per day.”
He added that they began the exercise with the hope that they would be paid but only half of them received money for food, transport and airtime.
The enumerator they were deployed to areas far from where they live meaning that they have to walk as they have no money for transport.
He further complained that they have been forced to conduct the exercise on empty stomachs and are unable to communicate the challenges they face on the ground due to a lack of airtime.
“We are urging the government to pay us our allowances as most of us are students and we are using our savings to do the job. We have also not seen any police officers and our security is at risk because we work late into the evening,” the census official was quoted as saying.
He said they had been told of difficulties in the accounting system but wondered why some officials had received double payments yet others got nothing.
The enumerators also raised concerns over their security saying they had been assured one police officer for every three census staff but this has not been the case.
