The Government Statistician Dr Grace Bediako, has indicated that preparations towards the 2010 Census are far advanced, with 75 per cent of the work completed. She was optimistic that all preparatory work would be completed before the exercise kicked off on a day to be designated by the President as the Census Night. Dr Bediako told the Daily Graphic in an interview that so far all the necessary preparatory work in the northern part of the country had been successfully completed, with work in the southern sector on course. She said at the moment attention was focused on finalising the questionnaires for the exercise and the training of experts to assist in the actual collection of data. With the 25 million projected population, the Government Statistician said the actual outcome hinged on the mapping of the areas to be covered, adding that the districts and municipal assemblies would be zoned into smaller areas to ensure efficiency during the exercise. According to her, a Population and Housing Census District Implementation Committee would be inaugurated on Tuesday to facilitate the exercise and ensure its success. Additionally, a strategy to systematically train government officials to work in collaboration with municipal and district assemblies (MDAs) had been put in place. In all, she said, 50,000 people from government agencies would be recruited for the exercise. The homeless and street dwellers, she said, would be enumerated first on Census Night by officials who would comb the streets and towns to ascertain their population as of that given time. An Assistant Chief Statistician, Mr Kofi Agyemang-Duah, said after data had been collected from the homeless and street dwellers, they would be presented with certificates of enumeration in order to avoid double counting. The relevance of the Census Night, he explained, was to ensure that all persons, either Ghanaian or foreigner, within Ghana's geographical boundary as of 12 midnight of the Census Night would be regarded as being part of the population of Ghana. On Census night, he said, various events, such as religious activities, the sounding of sirens and church bells, would go on as a signal to residents to inform them of the event. Mr Agyemang-Duah urged all persons who would either be visiting friends or relatives to leave details of their biological information with their hosts to avoid double counting. You will be counted based on where you were at 12 midnight on Census Night," he stated, and appealed to the media to assist in creating awareness of the exercise in order to minimize the challenges to be confronted during the exercise. Source: Daily Graphic