Ho, March 30, GNA - Dr Grace Bediako, the Government Statistician, on Tuesday said the 2010 Population and Housing Census would be the best ever. She said this was because wide ranges of skills were being tapped from various segments of society to constitute a pool of expertise needed to undertake the exercise.

Dr. Bediako said this at the inauguration of an 11-member Volta Regional Census Implementation Committee in Ho.

She said significant progress had been made since the fourth quarter of 2008 with the inauguration of the National Census Planning Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee among other important preparations and that the country was set to record the best ever population and housing census. "The field component of the cartography/mapping exercise has been completed, the questionnaires and manuals for the data collection exercise have been developed; field operators have been tested in the trial census, and the publicity and education programme, as well as the training programme have been developed," she added.

Dr. Bediako said the inauguration of regional and district implementation committees was therefore to further the preparation process and enhance the understanding of the public on the census and urged committee members to partner the media to educate the public on the census. Mr Joseph Amenowode, the Volta Regional Minister, said government was determined to have the fifth post-independence population census and would ensure that it was successful.

He urged members of the Committee and Municipal and District Assemblies to support the exercise in their various jurisdictions. Mr Vincent Adzato-Ntem, Volta Regional Coordinating Director and Chairman of the Regional Census Implementation Committee, pledged the readiness of the RCC to ensure a successful exercise in the Region.