Govt to spend GHS 521 million on upcoming population and housing census

Ghana is expected to spend five hundred and twenty-one million cedis (GHS 521 million) on its 2021 population and housing census.

According to Mr Emmanuel G. Osei, the Head of Census Secretariat, the amount is unique because it will be done technologically and tablets have been acquired for enumerators and supervisors.

The amount includes the payment of enumerators, purchasing of logistics, fieldwork cost, and training of members to facilitate the effectiveness and efficiency of the census.

According to the Head of Census Secretariat, the enumeration process required logistics to enable the field officers to reach out to all villages, communities and hamlets across the districts in the Region.

He said the GSS would need logistical support, including vehicles and motorbikes to reach out to residents in the hard-to-reach communities and urged the heads to avail themselves when they needed their support and services.

On the benefits of the exercise, he said apart from providing an updated demographic social and economic data to support national development activities, to track implementation of global and continental development, the exercise would also help at the district and local levels to assess the developmental needs of the people.

Mr Osei disclosed that the 2021 Census would be heavily dependent on the use of computer-assisted personal interviews and a global positioning system (GPS) coordination for all structures and communities.

Mr Osei explained that as part of the preparations towards the successful implementation of the census, the Central Region had been divided into six zones to facilitate the smooth implementation of the census and to ensure everyone was duly captured.

He said recruitment, training of supervisors and field officers who would undertake the enumeration is ongoing and has therefore appealed to the participants to support the GSS to carry out a successful exercise.

source: pulse.com.gh