Dr. Fred Muhumuza
There is nothing much Ugandans can do, but to accept the 2024 Census report that was recently released by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Dr. Fred Muhumuza, a leading Ugandan economist, has said. UBOS is by law mandated and charged with production of official statistics for Uganda.
In a media interview, Dr. Muhumuza says that its true there are things which didn’t go well, including the Bakiga/Bagisu mismatch which UBOS owned up to, but the inescapable truth is that the contents of the UBOS report is what Ugandans will have to accept and work with for another 10 years up to 2034 when another population and housing census will be conducted.
Appreciating the UBOS leadership for the humility with which they recently owned up to the Bagisu/Bakiga mismatch and went ahead to correct and rectify the error, Dr. Muhumuza, renowned for his objectivity, observed that unfortunately such mistakes, minor as they could have been, potentially have the effect of diminishing public trust and confidence in the entire census report.
He observed that UBOS had established itself as a reputable organisation which a few years ago effectively emboldened the President to stand up to the World Bank and IMF when they disputed his proclamation that Uganda had achieved the lower middle income status.
Muhumuza says on that occasion, the public believed what UBOS was saying because the Bureau had over the years established an impeccable reputation of churning out credible statistics, which even MP Semujju Nganda, cynical as the people of Uganda have come to know him, publicly acknowledged.
But now Dr. Muhumuza is fearful that, even when that shouldn’t be the case, the recent hiccups relating to the 2024 census report (specifically that part on Bagisu/Bakiga) now risks causing Ugandans to unfairly castigate UBOS as if there is nothing good the Bureau has ever done or delivered .
Last week during the very popular Capital Gang debate, panelists like Oscar Semweya Musoke, Ssemujju Nganda, Abdul Katuntu and Lydia Wanyoto saluted UBOS for a job well done and went ahead to challenge NPA, Cabinet and other decision-making organs of government to make use of the 380 pages census report to effectively plan for the country like never before.
