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Uhuru’s media team goofs on census holiday

By Amina Wako August 17th, 2019 1 min read

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s media team  was left with egg on the face on Friday night after misquoting him on whether Kenyans will have a holiday during the census period.

It took the Kenze Dena-headed Presidential Strategic Communication Unit ( PSCU) a whole two hours to realise that the head of state had not announced that Monday, August 26 would be a public holiday.

It all started at 8pm when the unit dispatched a media communication announcing that Mr Kenyatta had designated the day as a public holiday.

“Government designates Monday august 26 as a public holiday to facilitate national census,” read the communication in part. It even had a “quote” supposedly from President Kenyatta’s speech earlier in the day at the Kenyatta National Convention Centre (KICC) , Nairobi when he launched the countdown to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census earlier in the day.

“To ensure maximum enumeration during the first two days ( August 24 and 25)  of the Census period, I have authorized Monday, 26th August 2019 to be a Public Holiday,” the President is said to have announced.

At 10pm, though, PSCU sent a correction saying the head of state did not announce August 26, 2019 as public holiday.

“Contrary to our earlier dispatch on the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, we wish to clarify that His Excellency the President did not announce that August 26 will be a public holiday,” reads statement.

“We regret the error and wish to say that as much as the Kenya 2019 Population and Housing Census is important to the country, August 26 which will be on a Monday will not be a public holiday. Our apologies for inconveniences caused by the erroneous communication.”