Twenty eleven is the year of the population census and Batswana have been asked to not only allow mappers and enumerators into their homes when the time comes but to also answer all their questions.
This year’s census will be 5th one undertaken ever since the country gained independence in 1966.
A brief from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has shown that Batswana are uncomfortable with some of the questions asked by mappers when they visit their homes.
Highlighted was a question that asks for the names of those who spent the night at one’s house on the night before the day of the census.
The report said that the question is asked because all persons who spend the night with the household during the census night, in residential and institutional dwelling structures, will be counted irrespective of their citizenship and whether or not they are usual members of the household or visitors.
Apparently many have felt that this was not an appropriate question as it violated their privacy.
Late last year, during the launch of the 2011 population and housing census, Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo, had advised Batswana to this year answer the questions as truthfully as they could as the statistics and census personnel have an oath of secrecy and would thus not be in a position to reveal anybody’s business.
“Such information does not assist the government alone but it also assists other stakeholders and development partners who contribute in ensuring that every citizen lives a meaningful life with dignity,” said Matambo.
Even though the public might have reservation about this question, it is said to be a core question for the United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing, a model that Botswana and many other countries follow.
Different countries have different ways of asking the question but the foundation of it is from the UN model.
According to the report, the question, which is usually the first question, is asked to establish “the place where present at the time of the census as the geographical place at which each person was present on the day of the census, whether or not this was his or her place of usual residence”.
Cartographic field work for the census started in July 2009 and completion is expected in April 2011.
