Census Report Not Ready - Gov�t Statistician Confesses

�When you say a final census report, it doesn't mean you release all�. These were the shocking words of Mr Aggrey, acting deputy Government Statistician as he ended an interview on Unique Fm's �Behind The News� on Tuesday. The Ghana Statistical service had been challenged by the Danquah Institute over the the 2010 Population and Housing Census, insisting he report was not ready, and hence the absence of any document to show for it. Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, Head of Research at DI, had argued that the few PowerPoint slides presented at the press conference by GSS could not cast the census report. The deputy government statistician responded that DI had not put in a request for the document. When the host asked how soon a request for the report could be granted, he said �only tables and graphs are available�, with no detailed analysis or write-up available to go with it. The GSS last week announced the release of the 2010 Population and Housing Census, but the launch turned out to be a presentation of 15 slides and nothing more. Governance and Policy Think tank, Danquah Institute, has called on the Ghana Statistical Service to explain to Ghanaians why it has so far failed to make available the detailed report of the Census. According to a statement signed by the Head of Research of DI, Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, last Thursday�s press conference by the GSS was shameful and an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians. �What was on show was a PowerPoint presentation of just a few headline data, similar to what was presented in the provisional figures over a year ago, 3rd February, 2011, to be precise,� he noted. Nana Attobrah explained that the Statistical Service �simply and incompetently� presented to Ghanaians a few major headline data, which had been ready since February 2011.