August 26 is not a public holiday, State House now says

Monday, August 26 is not a public holiday, State House announced on Friday night just hours after issuing a statement to the contrary.

The President’s Strategic Communications Unit (PSCU) said an earlier communique indicating that August 26 would be a public holiday was sent in error.

“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,” it reads.

The earlier announcement had been made on the State House Twitter handle at around 7:40pm but was deleted three hours later.

A statement to newsrooms distanced the President from the tweet in a move likely to create concern over the operations of his communication team.

“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.”

The last population census was done in August 2009.

Kenya has conducted seven population census exercises in the past with the first being in 1948, second one in 1962, third in 1969, fourth in 1979, fifth in 1989, sixth in 1999 and later in 2009.

However, five Kenyans have moved to court to stop the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) from carrying out the exercise.

According to them, there was no public participation and KNBS hired officials erroneously.

174,700 personnel were expected to be hired for the exercise set for Monday and Tuesday.

On its part, the Ministry of Education has postponed Term Three opening dates for all schools by a week to allow for the exercise.