By BEATRICE MATERU

More by this Author

Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has extended the duration of the Population and Housing Census by seven days to allow people who had missed out to participate.

The extension was announced by commissioner Anne Makinda after the agency realised that some citizens had not been reached.

The census that began on August 23 will now run until September 4.

Read: Tanzania begins housing census

Until Sunday at 8am, 93.45 percent of Tanzanians had been counted, Ms Makinda told a news conference in Dar es Salaam.

"I am appealing to Tanzanians who have not yet been counted to co-operate with census officials so that they get counted," she said.

Addressing the nation ahead of census night, President Samia Suluhu urged all Tanzanians to show up to enable the government to have appropriate statistics that can help in planning for development.

"Better data will help our country to plan for better lives and accountability," she said.

Enumerators' conduct

The last population census was conducted in 2012. Tanzanians who spoke to The EastAfrican about their experiences said the conduct of enumerators, the questions they asked and the answers they got might go to show that the government failed in preparing the nation for the census.

Authorities had given a three-month notice, and leaders had marketed the census as a big national event.

President Samia even pronounced the census day, August 23, a public holiday and when the day finally came, the nation was generally excited.

Read: Census: Tanzania lures hunter-gatherers with bush meat

President Samia, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa and several ministers were counted first. Only 17.1 percent of the population was reached on census day. “I woke up very early and cancelled all my meetings for the day. I was ready to be counted,” said Juliet Samwel, a resident of Dar es Salaam.

Ms Samwel was excited about the exercise because she missed out in 2012 as she was out of the country. The enumerators did not knock on her door that day.

“I wasted the whole of Wednesday, August 23, waiting to be counted, only for the enumerator to take my details through a phone call. It’s so frustrating.”

Yet, there were those who refused to be counted or gave inaccurate details.

Kulwa Matandala, told The EastAfrican he saw “no importance of this exercise”.

“I had no time to talk to an enumerator,” he said, accusing the government of asking for information they already had.

“I have a travelling pass and a national identification card; they can get my details from there,” he argued.

Zarious Paulinus Mapunda, a Songea resident, also refused to be counted, saying the government should consider him deceased because the details he submitted to the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), a programme for low-income households, had been erased.

“They removed my name from the programme, assuming I was dead. I have told them not to approach me for the census, or come to register me for anything. They consider me dead,” he said.

In a video clip shared on social media, Mr Mapunda insisted that instead of responding to questions, the enumerator should take note that, “Zarious Paulinus Mapunda refused to be counted.”

Also read: EYAKUZE: We’re sabotaging the census in a gentle Tanzanian way

Ramadhani Mkanje noted that the enumerators were ill-prepared for the job and were ignorant of the information they were required to seek.

“He asked if I owned a TV, bed and smartphones while sitting in my one-room apartment, where he could see everything I have. I lied that I owned nothing… I said I had never owned a bed in my life,” he said.

Ritha Mbimbi, a resident of Iringa in the southern highlands of Tanzania, said the enumerators should have released a schedule of which vicinity they would be each day so that people would make themselves available on the particular day. “There was no need for a public holiday,” she said.

"I don't consider myself as being counted," noted Nicko Mmbaga, a Dar es Salaam resident. “They didn't show up when we expected them to. When she called five days later, she only asked a few questions over the phone and the call was disconnected. After a few seconds, I got a text from her requesting me to call her back as she had run out of credit.”

“Which made me wonder how many people did call back.”

The enumerators' questionnaire has more than 100 questions, including age, gender, occupation and property owned.