Population census: We envisage challenges of boundary and party issues - Govt Statistician

Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician, has envisaged the challenges of boundary and political party affiliation are likely to fester during the 2021 Population and Housing Census slated for this year.

He said the Ghana Statistical Service was likely to be over-burdened by these issues in some communities and appealed to major actors to guard against the development for the sanity of the exercise.

Prof Annim made the observation when he and his entourage paid a courtesy call on Mr Joshua Gmayenaam Makubu, the Oti Regional Minister at the Regional Coordinating Council (ORCC) at Dambai.

He urged the Minister to help residents to understand the issues and disassociate themselves from these positions to avoid the antagonism these actions could bring to disturb the exercise.

"The Ghana Statistical Service is not responsible for demarcating boundaries and they should be allowed to do their work in peace," he said.

He appealed for facilities that could safely store their materials and devices for the digital census.

He said this year's exercise was going to be digital-oriented and appealed to the Regional Minister to support them on this.

He urged the public to provide true information about themselves to the enumerators.

Prof Annim said a successful census would be dependent on publicity and appealed to the ORCC to lead the crusade in the jurisdiction for a smooth exercise.

Mr Makubu assured the visiting team of commitment to the enumeration exercise.

He said two areas, Jumbo and Agou, who had boundary issues in the past, had resolved to give peace a chance.

The Minister promised to get the Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) in the region to activate publicity channels for the smooth census exercise.

---GNA