A leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Monday described as ill-informed public criticism about the decision of the President to cut short his Asian tour to be at home for the Census night.
Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra that President John Evans Atta Mills did the right thing by returning home with his official delegation for the 2010 Population and Housing Census.
"Technically the census night is a snap short of the population of Ghana as at midnight September 27.
"So for the first citizen of the land to be outside the country at that material moment is unthinkable," he stressed.
Alhaji Iddi said the mere fact that the census exercise would span two weeks cannot justify the criticism.
"The two-week period pre-suppose that the difference the President's gesture will make will be insignificant in view of the population under consideration."
He noted that it is important for the citizenry to allow the technical persons engaged in the exercise to talk about the merit or demerit of the President's move.
"It is not right for people who are not well-informed to pollute public opinion about the issue.
"I urge Ghanaians to emulate the symbolic gesture of the President to be physically present on 12 midnight for the census night, after a long trip to China by taking the exercise seriously."
Alhaji Iddi said the statistics that would be captured by the population census would facilitate national development planning through a more accurate figure.