The long awaited national population and housing census took off last night with the counting of the homeless. Sirens were sounded across the country to mark census night at exactly 12 midnight. Over 50,000 enumerators have been engaged for the exercise which will take place over the next two weeks. At midnight at the Census secretariat in Accra, hundreds of enumerators converged for their final briefing. They took turns to receive the necessary materials including enumeration sheets, certificates as well as torchlights. After an hour of briefing, the enumerators, dressed in their census T-shirts with their ID cards boldly displayed, began leaving to their assigned zones. They were closely followed by a team of officials and board members of the Statistical Service monitoring the exercise. The Tema station area was the first port of call for a team of enumerators but some head porters (kayayei) and other traders who pass the night there and who were the main target, were hostile to the team. They were particularly angered by the presence of cameramen from some television stations, prompting the intervention of the founder of the Kakayei Association, Michael Alongyah. There was a similar confrontation at Tudu, also in Accra. The female porters accused the enumerators of collecting information as part of plans to evict them. Their sleep, for them, was more important. As the team continued its tour, officials from the Statistical Service were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people sleeping along the streets. Government statistician Dr. Grace Bediako concedes more than a day is needed for the counting of the homeless population contrary to the census plan. “Clearly the problem is more extensive than we anticipated,” she said. Source: Joy News/Ghana