Floating population proving difficult in census

Accra, Sept. 27, GNA - The ongoing Population and Housing Census suffered hiccups at various locations as sections of the floating population refused to cooperate with enumerators.

Some head porters, vagrants and destitute blatantly refused to give their details to enumerators with some even threatening to "deal" with them if they were not left alone.

"We are finding it difficult communicating with some of the people we have encountered, they have refused to cooperate with us to get their data," said Olivia Fofoe, a census supervisor at the Tudu area in the Ashiedu Keteke District.

"I think the public education on this exercise was inadequate because some of them were not even aware that an event like this was being undertaken."

Fofoe told the GNA that most head porters had gone to sleep and waking them up became a very "cumbersome" affair, with most who agreed to wake up disagreeing with the concept of the whole exercise. She said most of them thought the exercise was aimed at gathering information that would assist government to send them back to their home towns.

Fofoe said they even realised that some were giving wrong identities as the interview progressed. "Some of the homeless people we tried to talk to said we were trying to get information for government to arrest them, even though we dispelled that notion".

"I think a lot more education should be undertaken as the exercise progresses so that enumerators can do their work efficiently and effectively," she said. Iddrisu Alhasan, an enumerator the GNA spoke to at the CMB area, said it had proved difficult waking the porters up to get their details. He said the problem had to do with the time that materials for the exercise were made available to them. "We got our materials around 2000 hours and when we got here they were all asleep.

"It is proving very difficult for us (the enumerators) to get the information that we need to get them counted.

"I also think the education on this exercise was not enough. But I hope we would be able to sort things out in subsequent days," he said. Midnight of Sunday, referred to as Census Night, is the specific time that will be used to determine where an eligible individual is to be enumerated.

The two-week exercise, which ends on October 10, is also to collect data on the composition and distribution of Ghana's population, the residential accommodation and facilities in use. "This information will be crucial in determining the development policy direction of the county," according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

It adds that the census will be an important source of comprehensive data on persons with disabilities, helping to assess their social and living conditions in terms of school attendance and educational attainment, employment, marital status and living arrangements. This is the first time disability issues are being included in the Population and Housing Census. GSS says the census is to cover all persons within the borders of Ghana at midnight on Sunday, irrespective of nationality and civil status.

It will also include a housing census, which is the official enumeration of all living quarters, either occupied or vacant, and occupants thereof at that time.