GODFREY KABBYANGA: Why Population Censuses are not a contradiction to Christianity or Islam – UG Standard

Mr. Godfrey Kabbyanga Baluku is the Minister of State for National Guidance (PHOTO/File)

Fellow Citizens,

Today our Muslim faithful celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr. It is a festival marking the end of Ramadan.

Exactly a month from today, the Uganda Bureau Of Statistics will undertake our once in ten years National Population and Housing Census. This census exercise is important because our government cannot accurately have evidence-based planning, policy formulation, and implementation without it.

National Population and Housing Censuses are not unique to Uganda. History records that when Mary was about eight months pregnant with Jesus Christ, she and her husband had to travel to Bethlehem to take part in a Census exercise.

Indeed, Islamic history also confirms that the “first Census” in the Islamic World, “was ordered by the Prophet (Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) to assess the numbers of Muslims fit to be deployed for defensive purposes.” The first person to implement a fully recorded, regular census in Islam was the 2nd caliph and companion, Omar ibn al–Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him).

Therefore, as we celebrate Eid and prepare to receive Census enumerators to our homes, it is my prayer that Allah will bless you with Happiness and grace your homes with warmth and peace.

Eid Mubarak.