Sogakope, Aug. 24, GNA - The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), at the weekend called on the media to help the Service to educate the public on the upcoming 2010 Population and Housing Census, scheduled to take off on September 26.

Mr. David Yenukwa Kombat, Head, Publicity and Education Unit, Census Secretariat of (GSS), said the media had been identified as one of the key partners that could assist GSS to educate the public on the significance of the exercise, to ensure its success.

He was speaking at a workshop on capacity building for members of the Media and Communication Advocacy Network (MCAN), at Sogakope in the Volta Region.

MCAN is a media group comprising personnel from the public and private sector, the print and electronic media nurtured by UNFPA to promote issues on population and development.

Mr Kombat said the 2010 Population and Housing Census would be the second time the GSS was engaging in such an exercise.

He said that with the excerption of the 2000 and the up-coming 2010 census, all other censuses had been on only population.

Mr. Kombat said GSS was fully prepared to embark upon the exercise which would start with training of enumerators, mapping of houses and declaration of a census night on the 26 September where enumerators would move from house to house, hotels, workplaces and other outdoor sleepers to enumerate the people through a face-to-face interview in the two weeks programme.

He indicated that maps, questionnaires and manuals to be used by enumerators were also ready to be distributed for a take off of the mapping out programme.

Mr. Kombat called on all Ghanaians to participate in "this all-important national exercise, which would help us plan as a nation for the provision of infrastructure and amenities as well as serving as a source of data on population for all those who would need the information."