MP for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa
The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa has called on Ghanaians to ignore some prevailing conspiracy theories and misconceptions against this year’s Population and Housing Census and avail themselves for counting.
Marking the nationwide census night, residents in the North Tongu areas were engaged in a number of fun-filled activities to create awareness ahead of the official headcount of people which begins Monday, June 28.
The activities led by the DCE, MP, and some traditional rulers began with a procession through the principal streets of Battor and Mepe which was climaxed with a short durbar deep into the night.
As part of the sensitization campaign, key stakeholders at the event took turns addressing the gathering and implored them to cooperate with the enumerators in ensuring a successful exercise.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, the MP noted that some of such conspiracy theories threaten the success of the exercise in the North Tongu area in particular, thus must be ignored.
He said, “I have been holding discussions with the enumerators, particularly when they went round doing the numbering of structures and its emerging that there are a number of conspiracy theories that as usual has characterized this exercise.”
“Some people think this is political -that some people want to know how they vote, some think this is to identify a particular wanted people you know that not too long ago, there were series of Western Togoland attacks and so some are linking it that they are probably looking for some suspects and all of that. So these are all conspiracy theories that have no basis at all, that are unfounded and it’s important that our people are told that this is purely for development, is for national planning so that we can have accurate data to pursue a scientific development path,” he added.
District Chief Executive for the North Tongu District, Collins Arku believes the census is not just a national exercise but a data collection agenda that will guide the development of the Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country.
“Every aspect of our development needs data that will really champion our course of making sure that whatever we want to do would not be based on assumptions but on scientific data. If it’s a school we want to build, we would need the population of the area to make a very informed decision and so, indeed, this is not just a national exercise but an exercise that would guide development at the district level.”