Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has asked persons who either refuse to provide responses or request for payment from Census Enumerators to desist from such unpatriotic practices.
He said it was legal obligation and civic responsibility of everyone resident in the country, including foreigners to provide accurate information to Enumerators on their households and should be done without coercion or inducement.
Vice President Bawumia made the call in Accra on Monday when Census Enumerators counted his household as part of the ongoing 2021 Population and Housing Census.
The enumeration was led by Dr Grace Bediako, Board Chair of the Ghana Statistical Service(GSS).
Dr Bawumia urged everyone living within the country to cooperate with Census Enumerators to ensure a successful exercise.
The Vice President entreated respondents to provide accurate information to the Enumerators for accurate data to inform policy formulation and decision-making.
The GSS is mandated by law to conduct a headcount of all persons resident in Ghana every 10 years, which would provide the government and researchers insight into the population dynamics, in order to do proper development projection.
According to GSS, the country stands to benefit enormously because it would guide development plans, implementation of policies and programmes, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
For instance, African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and National Development Agenda advocate for accurate data for planning.
“Therefore, I call on everybody not only to be part of the exercise but also, provide more credible and quality data for our dear country and make use of the Census call centre to ensure that all persons are counted.
The Census aims at achieving complete coverage and quality data.
The objective of complete coverage, aligns perfectly with the “Leave No One Behind” agenda of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The 14-day nationwide exercise will end on July 11, 2021.
GNA