Policy and Governance Think tank, Danquah Institute says it is supremely important to ensure the accuracy and reliability of statistics produced by the Ghana Statistical Service, as it represents the base for planning; be it for use by the government, the private sector or the individual.
According to a statement issued by the think tank, governments cannot afford to be continuously basing policy decisions on the availability of statistics which are not credible or cannot be trusted.
In the view of DI, it is imperative that the Statistical Service be resourced adequately and given the much needed independence it requires, to effectively carry out its mandate as the only agency responsible for the production and dissemination of statistics on all aspects of the economy of Ghana.
In a statement issued the Danquah Institute welcomed the debate surrounding the “State of our Economy” lecture delivered by the 2012 vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, but expressed its disappointment with “the hijacking of the debate by the culture of personality attacks and a diversionary shadow boxing between the Ghana Statistical Service and the NPP.”
DI notes that Dr Bawumia’s statement regarding the GSS only sought to draw attention to the under-resourcing and the apparent dependence of the Service on government and donor funding, and therefore should not be deliberately misconstrued as an attack on the integrity Statistical Service.
“Linked to the above is the worrying dependence of the Statistical Service on donor funding. Indeed, Dr Bawumia was not the first to raise these matters on the national stage in recent times. Both the former Minister of Manpower (in 2010), Hon. E T Mensah, and the Chairman of the GSS Board, Professor Francis Dodoo, have highlighted the institutional weaknesses affecting the output of the GSS.
“It is important that we, as a nation, address the problems, both historic and current, facing the GSS, devoid of the usual retaliatory partisan politics. This is not an NPP vrs NDC issue. Giving the GSS the independence and resources it needs to take decisions professionally without political influence, and efficiently without cutting corners or delays, are matters that ought to be addressed head-on,” the statement read.
The of independence for such a key state institution, according to the Danquah Institute, cannot be over-emphasised and welcomed the proposal from the NPP to guarantee the professional independence of the GSS.
The DI statement recalled the infamous $38 million fine imposed on the Bank of Ghana for deliberately misreporting data to the International monetary Fund. This development was followed in 20002 when the Bank of Ghana was granted independence, which according to DI, “certainly helped in succeeding years to shield the central bank from the kind of undue political pressures that might have led to the wrong reporting of data 12 years ago.”
“We fully back the proposal to enhance the autonomy of the GSS and we would urge the leadership and staff of the institution to take this call in good faith”, DI said.
The rebasing of Ghana’s economy in 2010, according to the DI statement, was an institutional admission on the part of the GSS that there were errors present in the data that was being used in measuring the size of the Ghanaian economy in 2010.
The cost of this error, according to the think tank, included policy decisions being taken based on wrong information, with dire consequences for the real economy.
“We witnessed the policy decisions that were taken in 2009 as a result of the fiscal deficit being wrongly estimated to be twice as big. It is important that policies are informed by accurate data. We cannot, as a nation, afford to be basing policy decisions of the availability of statistics which are not credible or cannot be trusted. It is imperative therefore that the Statistical Service, in particular, be resourced adequately and given the much needed independence it requires,” the statement concluded
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