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Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim – Government Statistician
Government statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim called for support from other public bodies for the successful conduct of this year’s national population and housing census.
He said it would be impossible for a single entity to carry out a census and, therefore, recommended collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure the exercise ran smoothly.
Prof Annim therefore called on government agencies and other bodies to help the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) develop a census with quality data to guide the planning and development of the country, adding that the service was only facilitating the process.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the census has been postponed from last year to the first quarter of this year.
Agricultural census
Prof. Annim appealed at a regional seminar to disseminate the report on the national agricultural census in Kumasi.
He explained that a population and housing census was very important for the development of every nation and should be taken seriously.
The census, he said, was essential to strengthening democracy because, for example, it served as the basis for the creation of new constituencies and districts.
The government statistician said that a population and housing census “leaves no one behind and captures everyone in a locality and can give information on local areas and districts”, adding that it was the the only exercise that included disaggregated data from all sectors of the economy. .
Provisional date
Professor Annim said this year’s census would likely take place in the second quarter of the year, depending on the COVID-19 result.
He said the service had set May 2 for the start of the fiscal year, but said it was in discussions with the Ghana Education Service to make sure the start does not coincide with the reopening. schools at that time.
According to him, facilities in some high schools would be necessary to train enumerators.
Census of Agriculture
Speaking about the agricultural census, he said that Ghana had failed to comply with the law which required it to conduct such censuses regularly.
He said that by law, a census of agriculture should be taken three years after each census of population and housing.
However, said Professor Annim, Ghana’s last agricultural census took place in 1984, until President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo commissioned the service to conduct the recent census in 2017-18.
He wonders if the Ghanaian economy can really be called agrarian, given the low contribution of agriculture to gross domestic product (GDP).
The government statistician explained that Ghana could not be characterized as agrarian if the contribution of agriculture to GDP was used for this determination, since agriculture represented around one-fifth of total GDP.
Nonetheless, he said, given the number of people involved in the sector, one would be right to describe the economy as agrarian, since over 36 percent of the workforce worked in agriculture.
Prof Annim called on seminar participants to help disseminate census information to people on the ground to help with planning and policy initiatives.
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