People who refuse to participate in the population census may be subject to sanctions – Statistician

A statistician from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says people who refuse to participate in the 2021 digital population and housing census or who give false data will face up to 12 months in prison.

Speaking on The Probe, Prof Samuel Kobina Annim said all people are mandated to participate in the exercise to ensure the country has accurate data with which to operate.

“There is no place for a person or a group of people in Ghana to abstain from the census exercise. Indeed, Article 54 of the Statistical Service Act (2019) contains subtitled offenses and penalties and it requires everyone in Ghana to voluntarily provide us with accurate data once we approach the person ”, did he declare.

Professor Annim, however, told Emefa Apawu that the Service hardly obeys the law when individuals are unwilling to participate in the exercise.

He said the ESG would prefer to convince residents who doubt the process through education, publicity and advocacy about the need to be counted.

“We would like at this time to find people who, for one reason or another, will not want to participate in the census and we are optimistic that once we have done the education, once we tell them why this census is importantly, we will urge everyone of them to participate in the activity. “

Prof Annim said if individuals are still unwilling to participate in the process, then the law will have to come into force.

He added that the service was doing its best to make sure everyone in the country was counted in the census.

“As I said, article 54 deals with offenses and penalties and it says that anyone who gives false information or refuses to give information is liable to a maximum penalty of 12 months imprisonment and 200 penalty units. ”

Population census 2021

The 2021 population census is scheduled to start on Sunday, June 27. The date was approved by the Presidency and the National Census Steering Committee.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census (SSP), with the slogan “You Count, Get Counted”, will provide the country with the opportunity to collect credible and comprehensive data on citizens with a view to transforming the economy for sustainable development .

Census Night will be the point of reference for all the information to be collected on the population and will mark the start of the enumeration phase of the 2021 census exercise.

The ESG is the lead agency for conducting the census and has divided the country into 51,921 enumeration areas to ensure easy collection of geospatial data in the 260 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.