He said looking at the logistical cost of the census, it will be unfair on anyone’s part to suggest that the budget is bloated.
In an address to Parliament on the census, Prof. Annim said the costing satisfies all benchmarks.
“We have over 70,000 enumerators and supervisors made up of 58,000 enumerators and 12,000 supervisors. We are paying each enumerator over the period (June 13 to July 11, 2021) GHS2,520, and for each supervisor, over the same period, each person is being paid GHS2,940. A simple calculation of this shows that it takes more than two-fifths of the allocated sum.”
“And for the first time, we are doing a digital census. So ahead of the census training, we’ve procured 76,500 tablets. These tablets, if you go around the market, [have a unit] cost of $170 or GHS1,200. This again consumes more than one-fifth of the cost. So clearly, those claims of bloated cost cannot be true just by this calculation.”
The 2021 population and housing census will commence on June 27, 2021.
The exercise, which will run till July 11, 2021, is meant to generate data that will be used in decision-making and planning for the development of the country and its citizens.