The Eastern Regional Minister, Hon Seth Kwame Acheampong has emphasized that credible and comprehensive data on the population would inform the government’s decision in allocating resources, distribution of education and health infrastructure, as well as ensuring appropriate social expenditure.
He said quality data collection is at the heart of good policy formulation and, therefore, Ghana would not be left behind in the global digital revolution.
The former member of parliament for Mpraeso made this statement when addressing the eastern regional census implementation committee on Wednesday, 31st March 2021 at the Regional coordinating council.
He said the Census is a priority development activity and requires the needed support of all and sundry. The present efforts show that the Government of Ghana remains committed to the conduct of this 2021 Census
The Government Statistician and the Chief Census Officer, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, giving an update on census implementation, among others said census implementation activities have been ongoing for almost three years and key preparatory activities necessary for the exercise have been completed.
These include demarcating the country into smaller geographical areas (enumeration areas), recruitment and training of trainers and district data quality management teams, and procurement of logistics. He also assured that recruitment of enumerators and supervisors, and preparation of tablets for data collection are ongoing and will be completed within the next couple of days.
Indeed, a lot of efforts and resources have gone into the preparation of the 2021 Census. Therefore, the country cannot afford to lose the money invested into the Census, neither can we afford to lose all the preparatory efforts that GSS has performed over the three-year period.
Rather, we need to reap the full benefits of the efforts gone into the Census preparation by giving the relevant support to GSS to achieve the overall Census goal. In this regard, You Count So Get Counted.
The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC), with the slogan, “You Count, Get Counted” will provide the opportunity for the country to gather credible and comprehensive data on the citizenry towards transforming the economy for sustainable development.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), in consultation with the Office of the President, has endorsed Sunday, June 27, this year, as the Census Night.
The date has also been approved by the National Census Steering Committee.
The Census Night will be the reference point for all information to be collected on the population and mark the beginning of the enumeration phase of the 2021 Census exercise.
Mr Owusu Kaygya, Head of Census Methodology Workstream at the Ghana Statistical Service, therefore called on everybody to fully rally behind the GSS to provide more credible and quality data for our dear country.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Evans Boateng
