The Deputy Bono Regional Director of National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Peter Kwabena Gyasi, has discredited claims that the upcoming 2021 National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) is designed for the purposes of taxing Ghanaians.

“The 2021 NPHC has been designed to generate statistics that are essential for policy and planning purposes.

The census information will be used for only statistical purposes but not to be used in identifying people for taxation or punitive purposes,” he stressed.

Mr. Gyasi who spoke on the side-lines of a day’s in-service training on the census for staff of the commission in Sunyani said data collected will be a guide to measure socio-economic status of the people in order to improve resource targeting to areas that need them the most.

He therefore advised Ghanaians not to allow anything to prevent them from participating in the exercise since it will benefit the entire country.

The Deputy Bono Regional Director of NCCE urged all persons, both Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians to cooperate with the census officials by providing them with the necessary accurate and complete information.

He further urged political parties, religious groups, the business community, private sector, civil society as well as the media to use their various platforms to support the exercise.

Mr. Gyasi stated that the training was aimed at sensitizing the staff of the commission on the importance of the NPHC and also empower them to intensify public education on the exercise adding “the training will be replicated in all the various Districts and Municipalities within the Bono region”.

He also explained that the training will empowered staff of NCCE to undertake radio and street sensitization exercises on the NHPC to achieve successful head count.

He however tasked the staff of the commission to place emphasis on the census night which he described as the reference point for the enumeration of the citizens.