Statistical service faces equipment and other challenges in conduct of census trials

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has identified network challenges with some of its electronic devices as a major hurdle ahead of the national population and housing census.

This observation was made during the pilot census ongoing in some selected parts of the country.

An amount of US$ 83 million has been budgeted for the 2020 Population and Housing Census with over 60, 000 personnel to be employed for the census.

According to the GSS, the government has assured the needed funds will be made available before the commencement date.

But, Deputy Government Statistician, David Kombat has told Citi News that census officers also had challenges with registering Ghanaians living in gated communities.

“The challenge we are currently facing has to do with households in gated communities. They leave for work early, they come late and they are busy on weekends. We are appealing to them to make time so that they are able to capture them before Saturday. We have had challenges with our tablets and equipment that we are using to collect the data. We want to send the data as soon as we collect it to the Central Server in Accra but we are not able to do that in good time. These should be worked on so that we have a successful census.”

Trials

Already trials for the census are underway in selected areas such as Dormaa West District (Bono Region), Bunkpurugu District (North East Region), and Ashiedu Keteke, Ledzokuku, Osu Klottey, Ayawaso West, Okaikoi sub-metros all in the Greater Accra Region.

The 2020 Population and Housing Census will provide the current population of Ghana, by age, sex, educational level, marital status, literacy, educational attainment, occupation, type of economic activity, and geographic area of residence.

The count will also cover access to social amenities such as water, health care, educational infrastructure and housing conditions.

Ghana’s census

Ghana’s census history dates back to 1891 when it conducted its first under Britsh rule.

As an independent nation, Ghana has had five censuses, the most recent one being in 2010 when the population was found to be 24.7 million people.

Ghana’s population is now variously estimated at 28.8 million.

the conduct of the Census is in accordance with the Statistical Service Law, 1985 (PNDCL 135), which empowers the Government Statistician to conduct statistical surveys and any census in Ghana.

The country also previously had censuses in 1960, 1970, 1984 and 2000. The country is supposed to undertake a census exercise after every 10 years.