The opposition New Patriotic Party is questioning the provisional results of the 2010 census. The figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service puts Ghana’s population at 24, 223, 431. It represents a 28.1 percent growth in the population over the ten year period from 2000 when the last census was conducted. The population of the Ashanti Region grew by 30.8 percent over the period whilst that of the Volta Region grew by 28.4 percent. NPP General Secretary Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie told Joy News the figures are questionable. He said the population size of the Ashanti Region as given by the Ghana Statistical Service was far less than what it should be. “If properly conducted, Ashanti Region should have over five million people so this four point something is far, far low,” he added. Mr. Owusu Afriyie said the NPP will resist any attempt to manipulate the Volta Region figures to enable the NDC win the 2012 elections. He claimed that while census enumerators did what they called mopping up in the Volta Region, that was not done in the Ashanti Region – something he said was questionable. The NPP Chief scribe believes the mopping up was to enable the governing NDC to doctor the figures in readiness for their 2012 election rigging agenda. Source: Joy News/Ghana