Bolgatanga, Aug 20, GNA - A statistician has appealed to media practitioners and personnel of the Information Service Department to carry out programmes to get people involved in the Population and Housing Census scheduled to start on September 26.

The Upper East Regional Statistician, Mr. Festus Manu, said this on Thursday during a media briefing organized by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for media practitioners and information officers from all the nine districts in the Region.

Mr Manu said the exercise was crucial for the nation's development and it should not be toyed with.

Therefore, assembly members, traditional and opinion leaders should help the GSS to carry out sensitization programmes to get everybody involved in the exercise.

He said in the Upper East Region for instance, 1,709 enumerators' areas were supposed to be covered by 2,626 enumerators.

Mr Manu said the exercise was expected to be completed in three weeks and that one week would be used to count houses and structures whilst the remaining two weeks would be used to enumerate people in house holds, institutions and floating population.

The Regional Population Officer, Mr. Azam Alosiba, appealed to the media to disabuse the minds of people who had the traditional belief that it was wrong for them to be counted.

He appealed to politicians to desist from politicizing the exercise and mentioned that politicians themselves would need the census for development.