Ghana gears up for its first digital census

The Ghana Statistical Service has announced a provisional date for the commencement of the 2021 Population and Housing Census in Ghana,

At a workshop in Winneba to educate the press drawn from the southern sector of Ghana, Government Statistician and Chief Census Officer Professor Samuel Kobina Annim charged the press to help educate the public on the importance of the census.

The exercise has been tentatively scheduled for April and May.

The 1992 Constitution recommends a census enumeration once every 10 years for data to be collated, rather than simply relying on estimates and projections alone.

Ghana is preparing to undertake its sixth post-independence census – after the 1960, 1970, 1984, 2000, and 2010 censuses – and its third Population and Housing Census (PHC).

The 2021 Population and Housing Census this year, however, will be the first digital census in Ghana.

It will involve the use of Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing devices (tablets) for electronic data capture and Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS) for recording coordinates of structures as recommended by the United Nations.

Collecting data on tablets and synchronizing that data daily to the server is an efficient data collection strategy that minimizes the time spent on processing data and allows for real-time data quality monitoring while the GPS records ensure that there is complete coverage of all structures, households and localities.

In his opening address at the workshop on Tuesday, February 9, Prof. Annim advised the journalists to be accurate and factual in their reportage on issues regarding statistical data.

Member of the Publicity, Education and Advocacy Committee for the upcoming exercise William Addo assured of strict adherence to Covid-19 safety protocols to ensure the safety of the enumerators and the public.

He also stated that the enumerators will be given identification which will be displayed, adding that the Constitution mandates the Service to enter and count every household, structures, among others.

In a presentation, the Head of Census Methodology, Owusu Kagya, explained that apart from the foreign missions, nobody would be exempted from the exercise and this includes lunatics and those living in the ghettos.

He denounced some religious myths that being counted could cause death and encouraged all to make themselves available to be counted.