Tanzania: Govt Assures Effective Participation of People With Disabilities in Census

THE government has assured effective involvement of people with disabilities in the 2022 Population and Housing Census.

Equally, it said their participation will help the government especially in provision of social services to the people with disabilities.

The 2022 Population and Housing Census Commissioner, who is also former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Anna Makinda made the assurance at the opening of a seminar aimed at creating awareness about the exercise to members of the Tanzania Association of Deaf Teachers held in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

“We have decided to come up with an effective strategy to ensure next year’s census does not leave anyone behind.

That is why we have decided to create awareness about the exercise to various groups including people with disabilities to actively participate in the exercise next year,” she said.

Makinda said the government has decided to engage people with disabilities in various activities through their associations so that they can participate in making decisions for the development of their country.

She also acknowledged that the participation of people with disabilities in next year’s census will help the government to significantly determine how it can help people with special needs.

Also, Ms Makinda said, a committee from the regional level to grassroots will include a representative of people with disabilities to build confidence that the government has not left them behind in the exercise.

“We believe that by engaging these groups we can get more feedback which will help us to better carry out the census so that we can have the exact number of people with disabilities and plan better for them,” she said.

Makinda also called on people with disabilities to cooperate with each other so that they can participate fully during the upcoming census.

On his side, the Director of the Tanzania Teachers’ Union Karimu Bakari said, the seminar will help to build confidence among people with disabilities and increase their participation in the census.

Mr Bakari said the awareness seminar will help to answer various concerns from the groups, thus, increase their participation in the group.