The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has cautioned the public not to deal with anyone or agency via any portal in the name of recruiting officers for a census this year.

According to the service, these unscrupulous individuals are reportedly promoting the said fake recruitment portal on social media and are misleading/enticing unsuspecting members of the public to pay recruitment fees to them. It iterated that these individuals have set up a fake portal to execute their agenda.

“Members of the public are hereby informed that GSS has not launched any recruitment campaign for any 2023 Census. It is important to note that population and housing censuses are decennial, and are, therefore, conducted every ten years.”
Ghana Statistical Service

GSS open recruitment portal for upcoming project

Contained in a press release issued by the Service on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, it noted that the next census is anticipated to be conducted in 2031 given that the most recent Population and Housing Census (PHC) was carried out in 2021. It highlighted that it has rather opened a recruitment portal for an upcoming project – Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) Phase 1 and Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 8 (GLSS8).

The Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES) is an economic census to be conducted on the full set of economic units across all sectors of the Ghanaian economy. These economic units include all establishments undertaking some legal activity in Ghana, and therefore are legal units. It is structured in two (2) phases: Phase I and Phase II.

Nonetheless, the Service expressed that it has not authorized anyone or agency to conduct recruitment on its behalf. It revealed that its official portal is used for such purposes.

Management of the Service further warned that anyone caught “in the illegal act of using the name of the Service for fraudulent recruitment operations will be handed over to the Ghana Police Service for prosecution”.

“Members of the public are also urged to report any person who has collected moneys from them with the view to securing them jobs with GSS via the helplines and email address provided in this release.”
Ghana Statistical Service

It will be recalled that a purported release by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), invited application from interested persons to enroll for the position of Field Data Collection Officers for the 2023 population and housing census (PHC) as “stated in an initial publication in the daily graphic dated 15th October 2023”.

According to the statement, the Ghana statistical service (GSS) has established an Enumerators’ Bureau to accredit and satisfy field data collection officers for the 2023 population and housing census (PHC) with the aim of improving the quality of survey and census information that are used for national development planning.

The institutionalization of a formal long-term engagement with field officers for the 2023 population and housing census, the statement noted, will provide an opportunity to streamline capacity building interventions, build trust between enumerators and respondents and create an opportunity for career development.

It further revealed that this has become imperative because, increasingly, both public and private sector institutions rely on data for investment and resolving challenges that confront the nation.

Among other things, interested applicants were requested to have a minimum of WASSCE/SSCE or Equivalent, residential address/digital address, employment status and experience and disclose their age, sex, nationality. Also, as part of the job responsibilities, qualified applicants were expected to identify boundaries of the assigned Enumeration Areas (EA) aided by maps, list all structures and enumerate persons in the EA, obtain complete and accurate responses and capture them correctly during the enumeration exercise, report daily on progress of work and transmit data daily.