It appears the people of Northern Ghana are now getting more interested in Population and Housing Censuses (PHC) perhaps not because other “regions” or “ethnic groupings” are doing it, but because the economic indicators of the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions are continually getting worse by the day and need to be corrected as population in these areas expand.
Most public educations by past governments on their policies and programmes in the North did not go down well (not well understood by the masses) and is still the same in recent times. It is not because majority of the people are illiterate or unenlightened, but because they do not have time to listen to such forms of civic education rather, they are always at their farms or engaged elsewhere looking for food to feed their families whenever such education was/is going on.
However, having realized the importance of numbers when it comes to the development of the country, every sector of the economy especially in each region, they are well prepared and enthusiastic now to get themselves enumerated, come September, 26th, 2010.
Northerners are also not just ready for the 2010 Census because they want to have quality and efficient healthcare services, quality education, good drinking water, electricity, good roads, food among others, but they want to be counted because some of them have been “crying” for a very long time to have their own Districts and Constituencies since numbers count when it comes to creation of Districts/Constituencies.
Besides, they believe getting their own Districts and Constituencies would fast track development in their communities, enable them have a traditional paramountcy, electoral areas, polling stations among others.
They are also seriously interested (especially those who are Muslims) in getting counted this year because the outcome of the Census would tell whether there are more Muslims in Ghana as compared to Christians (which was a subject of debate after 2000 PHC). Additionally, the PHC would also help Northerners to make a very strong case, which is, that the three Northern Regions are still poverty endemic and most residents continue to live on less than a dollar a day.
If all Northerners are thinking this way, then one will also think that they have a case or good argument to make, having been hearing or reading stories and articles about the sorry development situations in these areas in the past and in most recent times.
There is no denying the fact that poverty, disease, hunger, infant and maternal mortality among others are reaching a state of pandemic in the North.
Several researches and studies conducted by various academic institutions, think-thanks, non-governmental organizations, the media and State institutions, among others have shown that the North is not doing well. The North is failing in education, health, infrastructural development, provision of safe drinking water, afforestation, Millennium Development Goals, and among others which invariably affects the overall development of the country.
At a regional advocacy seminar on the 2010 Population and Housing Census organized in Tamale by the regional office of the National Population Council in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), revealed so many appalling economic indicators that no Northerner will be proud off.
The Northern Regional Population Officer, Chief Alhassan Issahaku Amadu, in a power point presentation on the topic: “The impact of rapid population growth on national development,” said the overcrowding nature of streets with vehicular and pedestrian movements, overcrowding housing stocks, increasing institutional infrastructure that still fail to accommodate pupils and students at public and even private sectors, the pressure on the natural environment, among others called for concern.
Experts say the world population has recently ticked past the sixth billion mark, and is growing by about 230,000 per day, over 160 per minute. It increases by over 84 million annually, a billion people over 12 years, whereas in the past it look more than 100 years for the world population to grow from 1 to 2 billion.
Also, during the time of independence in 1957, the population of Ghana was about 6 million. In 1970 it returned a population size of 8,559,313 with intercensal growth rate of 2.4% per annum. Census 1984 recorded the population of Ghana as 12,296,081 and 18,912,079 in 2000 with growth rate of 2.7%. The current projections are that the population of Ghana would be 23,458,808 in 2010 and 28,511,828 in 2020.
Chief Issahaku Amadu, said the consequences of rapid population growth may be perceived to be positive or negative. To the extent that they are positive, he explained that the demand for children should be high, but to the extent that they are negative, the demand for children should be low. People may cite market potentials for goods and services, increased labour force as benefits of rapid population growth, he pointed out. But said, “even though this stance may sound true, its validity and reliability is limited to the quality of the increased population”.
According to him, the 2000 PHC recorded 1,820,806 as the population of the Northern Region. The figure, he noted, shows an increase of 56.3% over the 1984 figure with intercensal growth rate of 2.8% which is higher that the national growth rate of 2.7%. However, the population expert stated that the population of the region has been projected to be 2,253,484 in 2010 and 2,705,785 in 2020.
The population figures quoted is de-facto population (according to National Population Council), that is, where the person spends the Census night and not his or her home region. Out migration in the three Northern Regions in search of jobs in the middle and Southern portions of the country is very high. This means that when the number of people of Northern origin is compiled, the figure would be far more than what the Census captured for the region. For example, the number of Akans (the largest ethnic group in the country) who reside in the Northern Region as captured by the 2000 PHC was 174,469 as against over 500,000 people of Northern origin resident in Ashanti Region alone.
According to the Population Council, Northern Region has the largest population of children (46.3% aged 0 to 14 years) against the national average of 41.4%. This is partly due to early childbearing and higher total fertility rates, as well as the youth migrating to the South leaving the children and elderly.
Indeed, whenever good developmental indicators are produced, the Northern Region is among the last, but when the poor indicators are produced, it is among the first.
For instance, statistics from the Ghana Demographic Health Survey 2008 and 2000 PHC show that the population growth rate in Ghana is 2.7% but Northern Region is growing at a spate of 2.8%, the highest in the country. Women aged 15 to 49 years with desire to limit childbearing in Ghana are 36.5% whereas in the Northern Region it is 20.0%, which is the lowest nationwide. Additionally, total wanted fertility is 3.5% nationally but the Northern Region is at 6.3% (highest in the country), whilst women using any family planning method is 24% nationally, only 6.0% of women in the Northern Region are using family planning methods. Young girls between the ages of 15 to 19 who are mothers is 13% nationwide but Northern Region is hitting 23% (highest with Central Region). The most shameful is females who are heading households, an indication that men in Ghana have reneged on their responsibilities or for want of a better word, turned into women. Female heads of households in Ghana is 11.0% but Northern Region is scoring as much as 14.1%, the lowest figure among 10 regions, but exceeds the national average. Population 6 plus never been to school, 38.0% in nationwide but 72.3% in Northern Region. Those who have not had formal education at all in Ghana is 31.3% female and 22.3% male where in Northern Region it is 67.5% female and 51.1% male. For proportion of land mass, 30% (largest countrywide), delivery conducted at home, 72.1% (lowest), postnatal checkups 40.4% (highest), etc.
It is good that Northerners have realized that effective participation of citizens in censuses and surveys make it possible to generate relevant data for effective use in planning for National development. The quality of universality associated with the 2010 PHC should inspire all and sundry to participate fully and effectively in all processes of the census to avoid the undesirable phenomenon of “Garbage in, garbage out”.
Chief Alhassan Issahaku Amadu, the Northern Regional Director of the National Population Council said: “We cannot rely on mortality and emigration to check our population growth. Not even disaster, epidemics, sporadic, pandemics; not even the AIDS crisis can relieve us substantially of rapid population growth”.
Perhaps, people who are not desirable of smaller family sizes should take steps to maintain the desired norms, use contraceptives/ family planning methods and modifying cultural norms and religious doctrines that do not promote the adoption of manageable family sizes and other behaviours.
Government and the private sector should create employment and put the right people into such jobs, improve upon the quality of education and train young people at all levels. It should also integrate population variables into various segments of national, regional and district development planning processes.
By: Joseph Ziem
A Journalist
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