Statistical Service postpones 2020 census again!

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has rescheduled the 2020 Population and Housing Census due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Annim, disclosed the postponement at a press conference.

He said the GSS would announce a new date after consulting all stakeholders.

Prof. Annim said 75,000 enumerators and supervisors were being trained through electronic means in preparation for the exercise.

“June 28, 2020, as the Census Night has been rescheduled…We need to put together over 75,000 enumerators and supervisors and train them [for the exercise].”

The census was initially set to begin on March 15, 2020, with the first two weeks expected to be used for listing, a process that comprises the zoning and coding of the number of houses and structures to be covered in the census.

However, observations from the completed field census mapping exercise necessitated the change in date to June 28. 

The GSS had already begun recruitment of field personnel and other persons required for the census before the pandemic set in.

The GSS is not the only institution that has suffered a set back in its activities as a result of the pandemic.

The EC was equally forced to suspend its plan to compile a new voters’ register for the December 2020 general elections in the wake of COVID-19.

The commission has indicated that it would strictly observe safety protocols when it began the compilation of a new voters’ register.

The National Identification Authority was also compelled to suspend its Ghana card registration exercise in the Eastern Region over the same issue.