Dr Philomena Nyarko
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has once again postponed the planned announcement of the official demographic data of Ghana captured in the 2010 population census.
The latest failure to announce the official census data of the country has sparked criticism about the motives of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for continuously rescheduling the release of the highly anticipated data.
The population census was conducted more than 18 months ago.
In an April 27, 2012 press statement available to DAILY GUIDE, acting Government Statistician, Dr. Philomena Nyarko apologized for failing to release the data.
She said, “The final data of the 2010 Population and Housing Census cannot be released on April 30th, 2012 as originally scheduled. GSS is doing all it can to complete all stages of the census data processing as soon as possible. We deeply regret the inconveniences caused.”
The delay has caused critics to smell foul play from the GSS and the Mills’ government.
“Our concerns have been deepened by the possibility that this delay could be deliberate,” said Danquah Institute (DI), a think-tank that has been particularly vocal on the subject.
For instance, some people are convinced that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is deliberately pulling the strings to intentionally cause the delays so that they could manipulate population figures to their advantage in the 2012 general elections.
Without the official census figures, it has been surmised that it will be difficult to determine the veracity of the figures being captured in the ongoing biometric voters register.
“This development paints a disturbing picture for the impending biometric registration. However, information available to us from our credible sources within the GSS suggests that the 2010 census results have been tallied, verified and approved. And that, if government so wished it could definitely have the complete data released to the public before the registration began,” DI hinted.
“The delay is unusual and unprecedented. Moreover, no credible explanation has so far been offered by government for this undue delay. In 2000, the final census results of that year were declared in that same year. How much more today, with all the advances in ICT over the last decade,” DI stated in a March 2012 press released on the controversial subject.
The Electoral Commission (EC) needs the census figures to be able to carve out new electoral constituencies and political analysts contend that further delays in releasing the figures to guide the EC would only deepen the suspicion.
The former Government Statistician Dr. Grace Bediako was unceremoniously asked to proceed on leave a few months ago.
Dr Philomena Nyarko was promptly appointed to that position. At the time, critics, including the officials from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), condemned the move and said it was a ploy to cede the position of Government Statistician to someone who might be malleable.
But government officials have denied these speculations.
Some provisional data of the 2010 census made available to the public shows that Ghana has a total population of 24,223,431.
Provisional figures available to DAILY GUIDE show that Ashanti Region recorded a total population of 4,725,046 while the Greater Accra Region recorded a total population of 3,909,764.
Other key regions include: Volta Region 2,099,876; Eastern Region 2,596,013; Brong Ahafo Region, 2,282,128; Northern Region 2,468,557; Central Region, 2,107,209; Western Region, 2,325,597; Upper East Region, 1,031,478. The Upper West Region has the lowest population of 677,763.
The current population and housing census is the fifth to be conducted after independence.
By Raphael Adeniran
