The Ghana Statistical Service has inaugurated five-member Implementation Committees for the Tamale Metropolitan and Sagnarigu Municipal Assemblies in the northern region for the 2020 population and housing census slated later this year.
The Metropolitan, Municipal and District implementing committees are mandated to have an oversight responsibility over the District Technical Team, which will spearhead the data collection across the various MMDAs in the country.
The Committees, which were inaugurated on Monday, are made up of the District Coordinating Director as Chairman, the District Health Director, District Education Director, District Information Officer and a Representative of the Traditional Authority in the District.
The Sagnarigu Municipal Chief Executive, Hajia Mariam Iddrisu explained in an exclusive interview with THE CUSTODIAN that, the technical team would have direct contact with the data collectors and supervisors throughout the period.
She posited that the data yet to be compiled will help the assemblies to plan well for their people.
“So if you don’t ensure they conduct the census well, at the end of the day it is the assemblies that would suffer because it will reflect the true population and allocation of resources would also become an issue. Therefore, I entreated the people to ensure that they conduct the census efficiently and effectively inure to the benefit of the people” she stated.
Hajia Mariam noted the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly is very much poised for a successful programme, stating, “We have held several capacity building meetings on this programme and the technical team adequately trained on what to do and even today, the implementation committees were also trained on the technicalities involved in the exercise. Therefore, giving this background, I anticipate that the entire population census exercise will be successful.”
She said even though MMDCEs are not directly involved in the data collection and processing, she pledged to give the necessary support to the technical team and officers recruited to perform this task.
Hajia Mariam added that the inhabitants of Sagnarigu have been sensitized about the census and further public education is going for the people to cooperate with the data collection teams.
For his part, the Northern Regional Statistician, Mr. George Agbenyo underscored the importance of publicity and public education and awareness ahead of the population census.
He emphasized that, “from now till the end of the census the people must know the census is coming and they must know how the census will benefit and if they know all these things and the field staff goes to them to collect data, they will accommodate them.”
He gave assurance that the Ghana Statistical Service was determined to explore the technology adopted.
“We have tested our technology in two trial censuses, so where there are few challenges, we have corrected them and we are fully prepared for this census,” he stated strongly.
