Public can be fined for withholding information during 2023 Census
Deputy Statistician-General of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), Ottilie Mwazi on Wednesday said a penalty of up to N.dollars 50 000 or five years imprisonment or both can be given to those who refuse to provide the needed information during the 2023 Census.
Mwazi during a census stakeholders meeting in Windhoek said although all information collected during the census is given on a voluntary basis, anyone who refuses to give the needed information can be fined by the Statistician-General of NSA with up to N.dollars 50 000 or five years imprisonment or both.
“Anyone who refuses to provide the necessary information on our surveys can be penalised by the Statistician-General of NSA under Section 56 of the Statistics Act of Namibia,” she said.
Mwazi said that after a two-year postponement due to COVID-19, NSA will conduct its fourth National Population and Housing Census from 23 September to 06 October 2023.
“Even though we had a two-year delay, we are still within the framework to conduct the census for Namibia,” said the deputy statistician-general.
She added that preparation for the 2023 Census started in November 2022 and that phase one of the census planning is nearly complete.
“We are still in phase one but nearly done with phase one. The pilot census has already been done in 2022 to test all the tools that will be used during the census,” said Mwazi.
She added that the questionnaire has continuously been updated and gone through trials to ensure that the questions are up to standard.
Mwazi explained that NSA will recruit a total of 3 298 field teams and 12 725 personnel to assist in the census.
She emphasised that this will be the first census in Namibia to be conducted digitally with 13 129 tablets being donated by various stakeholders for the process.
She concluded that the information gathered during the census will enhance national planning and should be given voluntarily by the individuals.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency