Political analyst Herman Manyora is now questioning the necessity of the ongoing census drive.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on Saturday kicked off the headcount exercise, as the government seeks to get the accurate data of the number of people in the country.
However, the commentator now says that the exercise is not necessary, claiming that it's simply a waste of resources.
Speaking on NTV's AM Live show on Monday morning, the university professor claimed that the government has the numerical data of Kenyans, and needs not to waste money on a census.
"I think we don’t need a census in 2019, we can tell how many we are without doing a census. The government knows how many we are, and how much livestock we have, we don’t need to waste money," he claimed.
On the other hand, Nyamira Senator Okongo Omogeni questioned the high cost of the exercise, suspecting that the number could be double the actual cost.
He stressed on the need for a review of the cost, considering that some countries are doing it at a lower cost despite having a bigger population.
"Every time we do a project in Kenya we find the cost is double or billions more than our neighbours. Why should Ethiopia pay less for a census when they are more, and with a bigger surface area than Kenya?" asked the lawmaker.