The Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Prosper Pi-Bansah, has appealed to stakeholders in the 2020 Population and Housing Census to consider the invaluable essence of the exercise and endeavour to capture the most accurate data.
He said bad census data affected the myriad of uses for which it was collected, notably the deepening of decentralization and development, and urged stakeholders to work diligently for a successful exercise.
Mr Pi-Bansah made the appeal when he inaugurated an eight-member Census Implementation Committee for the Ho Municipality.
“Bad census data is an affront to the people of this Municipality and a disservice to our people since resources would be misallocated”, he said, asking all stakeholders, particularly statistical officers, to own the exercise.
“As users and producers of official statistics you are all aware of the importance of population and housing census in development planning and monitoring of policies and programmes,” he said.
The MCE charged the Census Implementation Committee to discharge its oversight duties competently and work to clear hurdles ahead of the statistical teams.
He appealed to chiefs, community leaders and members to offer officers of the Ghana Statistical Services all the support they would need and gave the assurance that the Assembly was ready to support.
The Committee is made up of members from the Municipal Statistical Service, Information Services, the National Commission for Civic Education, the Asogli Traditional Council, the ministries of Education and Health, and the Assembly.
Mr Peter Thompson, Coordinating Director of the Ho Municipal Assembly, who is also the Chairman of the Committee, called for support from all.
“In previous exercises, data entry was manual, and we found some corrupt officials sitting under trees and cooking figures. Now that it is going to be in real time, we must ensure that the right thing is done,” Mr Thompson said.
Mr Louis Tobah, the Deputy Regional Statistician, said the 2020 Census would be heavily dependent on technology, which would allow for accurate data.
He said publicity was crucial for the success of the exercise and said all must be made aware of their responsibilities.
Mr Tobah said the exercise must be free from political interference and asked the Committee to help resolve boundary and other issues that may arise.
