The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has asked all Ghanaians to cooperate with census officials who will visit their homes for the 2021 Population and Housing Census.
The President says without the needed cooperation, the exercise will not achieve the intended purpose.
Speaking to journalists at his Nima residence after being counted with his household by officials of the Ghana Statistical Service, Nana Akufo-Addo called for an end to all forms of attacks against census officials.
He urged the entire citizenry to participate and support the Ghana Statistical Service to carry out a successful exercise.
He explained that information from the exercise will enable the government to plan adequately for development.
“The 2021 Population and Housing Census is an extremely important exercise, so I am appealing to all Ghanaians to cooperate with the enumerators and the census officials. They are doing an exceptionally important and sensitive job, and they need the cooperation of each one of us to support them.”
“So I am appealing to all of us to cooperate with them so that we can have a successful 2020/2021 census because we all know why it was delayed from last year; so that this will be successful and provide us with the information that we need for planning.”
Meanwhile, the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, has assured President Akufo-Addo that data taken from respondents will be protected.
“We will be doing this exercise on an average of 45 minutes period, and that is what we do generally. But what I want to emphasize is the confidentiality and the assurance to provide us with the information that it is just for statistical purposes, and we will not identify individuals in the data collection, and this is referenced in our Statistical Act 1003 that was passed in 2019.”
About the exercise
Ghana’s last census was held in 2010.
The 2021 population and housing census, which will run till July 11, 2021, is meant to generate data that will be used in decision-making and planning for the development of the country.
