The Wassa East District Assembly in the Western Region has launched a 30-day Countdown to Census Night on Friday, May 28, to prepare and create awareness for the upcoming 2021 Population and Housing Census that will begin on June 13, 2021.
Mr. Isaac Aggrey, the population census officer in Daboase of the Wassa East District explained that, the launching of the program is very important to create awareness of the population census exercise set to begin on June 13, to July 11, 2021, to enable cooperation from the public.
He indicated that there will be a 9-day training program for the field officers who will embark on the project, starting from Monday, May 31 to June 8, 2021. He added that after the official census program has commenced on June 13, there will be another program on June 27, to reference the Census Night and relate all the details accumulated in the communities to the national data.
Also, according to Mr. Aggrey, the housing census will begin on Sunday, June 28, to July 11, to enumerate all living quarters in the Wassa East District which will be the final part of the exercise.
The Wassa East District Coordinating Director, Haruna Ahmed Baffour explained that the significance of the program is to raise awareness of the impending census. He indicated that Ghana has been very consistent with population and housing census which is good to know the number of people living in the country and also to know the age and gender differences to aid in developmental interventions.
He said, “The data will tell the concentration of a particular people in a particular place, in case we need to put up a health or educational facility somewhere, the population statistics will inform us on the best facility to put there”
“It will help us also to know the total population of our district, politically if is it feasible for us to divide our district further into another administrative zone or electoral area, all this and many more is the importance of the census” he added.
Also, the District Chief Executive of the Wassa East District, Mr. Wilson Arthur explained that the census is important for the district to plan. The data will help them to know the exact number of people in the electoral area to help them know the number of schools to put up in the community, the capacity of hospital to build, and many other developmental projects.
He further indicated that during the census exercise, people will need to be at the right places such as their homes or the work place in order to get counted. And they should give accurate information to aid a smooth operation and for the government to achieve its goal.