Statistical Service To Release Preliminary Census Results On Monday

Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) will next Monday disseminate preliminary results for the 2010 Population and Housing Census, which took place on Census Night Sunday, September 26, 2010. However, only the regional results will be released for now because some districts had their boundaries not well defined, thereby making it difficult for the GSS to be able to release the district level results immediately. The census, which was the fifth in Ghana’s post-independence era, though successful, had its own challenges, which would be addressed by the Service. Briefing members of the Media and Communication Advocacy Network (MCAN) in Accra, Government Statistician, Dr. Grace Bediako, said the exercise encountered some challenges which had been documented to help the Service to improve on subsequent exercises. She was accompanied by Dr. Philomena Nyarko, Deputy Government Statistician and Mr. Michael Adu-Gyamfi, Public Affairs Officer. MCAN is a media group comprising personnel from the public and private sector, the print and electronic media nurtured by UNFPA to promote issues on population and development. She said the critical challenges faced were ethnicity and district boundary issues. With ethnicity, it was realised that it lacked standardisation that needed to be corrected to make it more standardised. Some districts also had their boundaries poorly defined and therefore GSS would not be able to release the district level results and only the regional results would be released. Other initial challenges the National Census Secretariat had to grapple with were the unwillingness of outdoor sleepers, workers who ply their trade at night and the commuting population to be counted and the delay of questioners. She said the census data will help inform policy formulation to assist in aid programme implementation and socio-economic development. Dr. Bediako advised that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development addressed seriously the issue of district boundaries to help facilitate subsequent exercises.