Wa, (UW/R), June 26, GNA – Mr Sixtus Jeremiah Dery, the Upper West Regional Statistician has assured that the outfit is working assiduously to overcome all threats to the successful conduct of the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) in the region.
He identified some of these challenges as the unwillingness of some people to provide information due to the inability of some field officers to prove their identity and difficulty in accessing some communities that have been cut-off by the rains.
Mr Dery, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa, however, said all the field officers in the region have been provided with ID cards to make the public have confidence in them.
“Issues with crossing rivers came up, but we’ve worked around with NADMO, the EC and other departments that have live jackets. We are trying to acquire live jackets for these people (field officers) to be able to use to cross these rivers.
“We have also acquired wellington boots for them to use to be able to protect themselves as they cross these rivers and also walk in the mud to carry out this exercise”, the Regional Statistician explained.
He said once the listing exercise had ended, the next most important activity was the census night on 27th June, to be characterised by activities such as bomb fires, siren blowing, church bell ringing and brass bands.
He said the census night was so important, that it was the reference point in the collection of data saying, “We want to celebrate this night so well that people will remember the night, because when they come to you on the 28th to enumerate the household, they will be referring all questions to 27th night”, Mr Dery said.
The Regional Statistician indicated that the enumeration exercise would also be conducted after 1500 Hours on 27th June for people in “unstable institutions” such as police cells, hotels, guest houses and hospitals among others.
He added that field officers would also be detailed to the bus terminals to enumerate the “floating population” -travellers who were likely not to spend the night in any house on the 27th night- and that all those to be enumerated on the 27th night would be issued with a certificate of enumeration to avoid double counting.
Mr Dery emphasised the importance of the exercise as the data collected would help in development planning saying, “Government uses this to plan and the local authorities will also use this to plan”.
He urged the public to see the exercise as a civic responsibility and participate fully by providing accurate information to help ensure the accuracy of the data for proper development planning.
GNA