Mr Drissa Ouattara, the Dormaa Central Municipal Chief Executive has advised traditional and social media users against creating controversies and confusion about the impending National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) exercise for the sake of national development.

He stated the collection of data through the exercise would help the government to make informed and pragmatic policy decisions that would guarantee the citizenry's quality health and safety and socio-economic security of livelihoods.

Mr Ouattara gave the advice when he was speaking at the launch of 30 Days to the NPHC 2021 on Tuesday at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region.

He entreated the citizenry to rather encourage and support publicity, education, and advocacy actively by conveying reliable information to facilitate constructive discussions on issues about the census.

Mr Ouattara said census officials had been competitively recruited from within the communities they were assigned to work in and were undergoing comprehensive skills training to prepare them for the exercise.

"The Municipal Assembly has taken all steps to ensure the census exercise goes on smoothly in a safe and secured environment with minimum or no disruptions and the information will be strictly confidential as they have taken the oath of secrecy under the Ghana Statistical Services (GSS) Act 2019, Act 1003", he assured.

Mr Ouattara stated the exercise would cover everyone in the country and urged all Ghanaians, residents, and non-residents in the Municipality to be available on the census night to welcome the census officials to their communities and places of residence and provide the necessary information for their enumeration.

Mr Samuel K. Addo the Dormaa Municipal Coordinating Director said the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) were fully in support of the exercise because it would help to address many data gaps needed for effective programming of sectoral programmes at the district level.

"It's therefore reassuring that the census would collect information on every structure, household and individuals, thereby providing reliable data to the lowest level of administration and geography including rural and urban differentiation", he said.

Mr. Peter Yaw Oppong, the District Census Officer said the exercise would be preceded by the counting and marking of households from Sunday, June 13 Sunday, June to 20, while the actual counting or enumeration exercise would start from 28th June 28 to end on Sunday, July 11, 2021.

Mr Oppong said "census night is on Sunday, June 27 to alert citizens about the impending exercise" and urged everyone to visit the GSS website for more information on the process.