The Ministry of Finance has approved a budget of GH¢477 million for the 2020 national census to be conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Government Statistician Professor Samuel Annim, who made the announcement, said the amount would be used for the two-week enumeration exercise of all persons in Ghana.
The exercise is scheduled to start on Monday, June 29, 2020 and end on Sunday, July12, 2020, instead of the initial date of March 2020.
“We are hoping that this period will give us the opportunity to identify all persons in Ghana,” he said.
Prof. Annim said the new census date was informed by the need to deploy geospatial data in the data collection exercise.
He explained that results of the trial census conducted showed that some areas are fast growing, especially the peri-urban areas in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions. “Without building footprints, we will not be in a position to capture the new structures and localities that have emerged; hence on top of the demarcation that we have done, there is the need to superimpose geospatial data in this exercise,” he added.
He said the technology would give the GSS an estimate of existing structures in each numeration area in Ghana.
Prof. Annim further explained that it was prudent to move the census from March 2020 to June – July 2020 because of the several electoral activities within the period.
He said the service, therefore, assessed the relative stability across all the 12 months and identified the month of June-July as a relatively stable period.
“For us to do an effective census, we need to ensure that there is less mobility of persons in the country and this is important because we don’t want to leave anyone behind.
We are looking forward to the collective engagement of all persons in Ghana for this exercise that we deem as an important national programme,” he added.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri