Kenyans who fail to answer enumerators’ questions or who give false information during the upcoming Census 2019 will be fined Sh. 100,000 or jailed for six months.

A report in the Business Daily says that Kenyans who also play hide and seek with the census enumerators and those who boycott the count will also be risking a Sh. 100,000 fine or one-year jail term.

This is after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law the Statistics (Amendment) Bill and the Accreditation Service Bill, which stipulates these penalties.

“Some of the sensitive topics Kenyans are likely to asked to reveal include stillbirths in the household, cause of deaths in the household and the identity of the biological parents of children in the household. Census enumerators will also be seeking answers to personal details like property ownership, number of wives, those living with disability, amount of money remitted by emigrants to households and whether any occupant of a household has albinism,” says the report in the Business Daily.

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“Any person who hinders or obstructs the director-general (of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics) or any authorised officer in the execution of any powers conferred under this Act commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or to both,” says the Act. “Any person who willfully fails to give any information or particular as required under this Act commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.”

The Census 2019 exercise is expected to start on the night of August 24, and continue up to August 31. This means that the government expects all households to be attended to.