Accra, Nov. 12, GNA - The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) on Monday launched a week-long celebration to draw attention to and sensitise the public on the important contribution of the Service to the country's development and to identify ways of enhancing the effectiveness and performance of the national statistical system.
The GSS week was instituted two years ago to increase awareness of the importance of statistical information to government, policy makers and planners, development agencies and partners, the media and the public on the country's development.
The week is part of the effort of the United Nations Regional Commission for Africa (ECA) to highlight the role of statistics in nation building and for the overall development of Africa. Launching the Week, Professor George Gyan-Baffour, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, underscored the increasing relevance of statistics to policy formulation and monitoring in decision making at national, regional and district levels.
However, he said, for these statistics to be of relevance, there was the need to enhance quality and timeliness of its delivery, which were some of the major problems facing official statistics. "There is the need to find out the factors that influence the release and dissemination of data and how these delays can be minimized if not completely eliminated," Prof Gyan-Baffour said.
The Deputy Minister called for a comprehensive roadmap to ensure smooth monitoring and control of the system that would enable players to know what their inputs should be during the process. Besides, the problem of inconsistent definitions and concepts must be dealt with if a credible national statistics system is to be in place.
Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, pointed to the growing demand of statistics, attributing the trend to increased availability of data, improved service and favourable response given to requests. Activities planned for the week include a public forum, launch of website, commemoration of Africa Statistics Day and a church service.
