Stranded passengers unwilling to be enumerated

The 2010 Population and Housing Census officials, who called at the Ho Public Transport Terminus at around midnight, to enumerate stranded passengers, had a difficult time convincing them that it was just as good being enumerated there, just as at their homes.

Mr Emmanuel Baidoo, Ho Municipal Census Officer, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, the travellers said they would wish to get to their homes to be counted.

He said they were able to convince most of them to be counted at the station, and they cooperated with the enumerators. Mr Baidoo said the exercise had taken off smoothly and that so far all had been “well and good.”

A visit to some hotels indicated that enumerators had already been there and left questionnaires to be filled by clients arriving later. The exercise was heralded by sirens of fire tenders and tolling of church bells in town, which was un-characteristically busy, with the streets and bars having quite a number of revellers, as most of the people were still in the Asogli Yam festival celebration mood.

At the grand durbar to climax the festival on Saturday, Vice President John Dramani Mahama asked Ghanaians to take the census serious and cooperate with the enumerators. At Hohoe, church bells tolled and gong-gongs were beaten in some communities to herald the exercise.

Source: GNA