President Akufo-Addo has guaranteed the confidentiality of data collected and appealed to Ghanaians to cooperate with the enumerators and census officials as the process of counting commenced throughout the country.
Speaking at his official residence at the Presidential Villa of the Jubilee House where Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim and some officials of the Service went to enumerate the President and his household, President Akufo-Addo encouraged all to participate in the exercise to enable the country to secure accurate data for planning.
Monday, June 28, is the first day of the Population and Housing Census after Sunday was observed as Census Night. On the average, the exercise will take 45 minutes for each household. To whip up public interest, officials of the Ghana Statistical Service are visiting the homes of Senior statesmen to count them.
Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Anim, who led the delegation to the President’s house, said the data collection is strictly for statistical and planning purposes. He debunked an assertion that the data will be used for tax purposes Let’s listen to an interaction between the President and the Statistical team.
President Akufo-Addo again appealed to Ghanaians to actively take part in the exercise.
The Census officials are expected in the homes of former Presidents, John Agyekum Kufuor and John Mahama, the Speaker of Parliament and other senior citizens including the Chief Imam.
Meanwhile, Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has urged residents of Ghana to partake in and cooperate with Census Enumerators and their Field Officers as the Ghana Statistical Service undertakes the two-week-2021 Population and Housing Census which began last night.
He also urged respondents to provide accurate information to the enumerators to help in the compilation of accurate data to inform policy formulation and planning for the country’s development.
Dr. Bawumia made the call when officials of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) visited him at his residence to enumerate him and his household as part of the national exercise. According to the Vice President, the benefits to be derived from the Census data is enormous, and the outcome of the exercise will guide development plans, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, particularly with African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, Agenda 2030 and the National Development Agenda.
The GSS is mandated by law to conduct a head count of all persons resident in Ghana and structures every ten years, and provide Government and researchers with detailed data of the Population. The objective of complete coverage, aligns with the “Leave No One Behind” agenda of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Vice President Bawumia urged persons who have either refused to provide responses or requested for payment from Census Enumerators to avail themselves and refrain from demanding favours before allowing the enumerators to count them.
The exercise is important and therefore all must get involved to be counted.
By: Bright Ntramah and Mercy Darko.
