The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has described as worrying the refusal of some communities in the Ahafo-Ano North District of the Ashanti Region to patronize in the Population and Housing Census (PHC) exercise.

Some field officers of the GSS were over the weekend threatened and forced to leave Bonkro, one of the electoral areas in the District, as they went to some communities to undertake the listing of structures.

Another official was also reportedly manhandled at Bantama, a suburb of Kumasi, as he went to a pastor's residence to seek information relating to the listing of structures.

Mr. Kobina Abaka Ansah, the Regional Statistician, briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, said the authorities were disturbed about the threats to the lives of the GSS officials.

"We will be meeting the Ahafo-Ano North District Security Committee (DISEC) on Wednesday, June 23, to resolve the issue," he told the GNA, and appealed to the public to cooperate with the Census officials whenever they visit their various homes.

The GSS since Sunday, June 13, had been conducting the listing of structures in the Region, as its field officers move around the various houses to take vital information concerning the households.

The listing of structures is a key component of the PHC aimed to identify and number all structures ahead of the actual exercise, which officially commences on Monday, June 28.

In all, about six million people in the Region are targeted for counting in this year's Census, according to the Regional Statistician.

On the general importance of the PHC, Mr. Abaka Ansah said the objective was to get the total number of persons and housing types and their characteristics in every Ghanaian town or village.

This information would be of great help to the Central and Local Governments in planning various educational, health, housing and social services.

It would also provide important information to support evidence-based implementation of the national development agenda, while supporting the tracking of achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 of the African Union.

Mr. Abaka Ansah said that since the last census in 2010, there had been many changes in the structure of the population.

Therefore, there was the need for a census to update the socio-demographic and economic data of the country and ascertain changes that had occurred in the population structure, he said.