A court has sentenced 46 Kenyans to serve between 6 to 12 months in prison for refusing to be enumerated in the just concluded national census.
46 Kenyans who refused to be counted during census sentenced to jail
Serving a jail term over census
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The Forty-six are members of the Kavonokya sect that advised its members to decline being enumerated.
According to reports, the 46 people declined to participate and told enumerators that “the process is satanic because we will be counted in heaven.”
They were among seven people who had also declined to be enumerated in the just concluded exercise.
Stiff penalties
Last week in Kitui police arrested two people, who are members of the sect who refued to be enumerated.
President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law the Statistics (Amendment) Bill and the Accreditation Service Bill, which prescribed stringent penalties for people refused to comply with the exercise.
Failure to answer enumerators’ questions or giving them false information during the Census attract a Ksh100,000 fine or six months imprisonment.
Those who boycott the count will also be risking a Ksh100,000 fine or one-year jail term.
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