Critics are already suspicious of another looting gala as Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced that the 2021 population and Housing census will cost Ghc521million to implement.
He made this known at a forum in Accra where he also said that the government has already disbursed GHS 467 million of the amount for the start of the exercise.
“Of the budget of GHS 521.3 million, the government has already disbursed GHS 467.2 million for the conduct of the 2021 Population and Housing Census. We will continue to ensure that the needed funds are provided to ensure a successful implementation,” Ofori-Atta said.
But critics wonder the basis of the staggering amount, particularly given the fact that in the 2010 population census Ghana had spent only a GHC86.5million to enumerate a population of about 24 million.
At the rate of inflation in the past 10 years and an estimated 6 million more Ghanaians adding to the numbers, a doubling or tripling of the 2010 budget for the census will still pale in comparison to what Mr. Ofori-Atta is estimating for the latest exercise.
Already, Mr. Ofori-Atta has been in the thick of several financial scandals involving the use of the country’s funds, including missing oil funds, cooking up dubious deals and planting his private company as one of the main transaction advisors to Ghana’s loan transactions.
Some critics who have spoken to Whatsup News say, they can simply not trust the numbers the Finance Ministry has churned out as the budget for the census exercise.
Meanwhile, Ghana begins its next decadal census on June 27. The headcount will run till July 11, 2021.
The Ghana Statistical Service had originally scheduled the census to begin on March 15, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was rescheduled to June 28, 2020, before being finally postponed to 2021.