Is Mt Kenya region really marginalized with all the wealth it has ?
Moses Kuria has called on all kenyans to focus on the importance of delivering a credible census using biometric technology and using the same as basis for the new Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) formula for resource allocation.
From last year, a storm has been brewing at the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) over the formula to be employed to allocate resources.
The commission has previously appeared divided with claims that politicians have infiltrated it with a view to influencing how it will come up with the revenue allocation formula to favour their regions.
The commission went ahead to hold a press conference to show unity and to diffuse tension days after legislators from Mt Kenya met in Naivasha demanding that the current formula was skewed against their region.
“The era of allocating resources to trees, animals and deserts is over. 2019 is the year for real equity and correcting historical injustices that were created by some people taking advantage of our divisions of the past.” Moses Kuria said
In Kenya, a census is conducted every 10 years by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) with the first census conducted in 1948. This was 23 years after the colonial government appointed its first official statistician.
According to the last census carried out by KNBS in 2009, Kenya’s population stood at 38, 610,097 — a 10-million spike from the 1999 census that showed Kenya’s population to be 28 million.
In 2016, KNBS published a report on the projected population of Kenya and it stood at 45.8 million.
KNBS is currently preparing to carry out the eighth census in Kenya’s history, that will be held in August 2019.
As we gear up to the cencus, let us look at the seven most populated counties in Kenya as recorded in the 2009 census while comparing the numbers with the population projections published in a report by KNBS in 2016.
1. Nairobi County had a population of 3,138, 369 in the last census. The county has an area of 695.1km2. The projected population as of 2016 stands at 4,463,149.
2. Kakamega County recorded a population of 1,660,651 in the 2009 census. It has an area of 3,051.2 km2. Projected population of the county as per the 2016 report is 1,875,531.
3.Kiambu County had a population of 1,623,282 in 2009. The county has an area of 2543.4 km2. Projected population stands at 1,868,208.
4.Nakuru County had a population of 1,603,325 in the last census. It occupies an area of 7,495.1km2 and its population projection stands at 2,031,247.
5.Bungoma County had a population of 1,374,477 in the last census. The county has an area of 3,592.8km2. The projected population stands at 1,553,434.
6.Meru County recorded a population of 1,356,301. It occupies an area 6,936.2 km2. Projected population of the county as per the 2016 report is 1,470,801.
7. Kisii County had a population of 1,152,282 in 2009. The county occupies an area of 1,317.5km2. Its projected population as per the 2016 report is 1,346,547.