New Ghana Statistical Service board inaugurated
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) now has a new board.
The board, which is chaired by Dr Grace Bendigo, a former Government Statistician, has Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, who is the Government Statistician, Ashiokai Akrong, Dr Evans Aggrey-Darko, Dr Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie, Philip Abradu-Otoo, and Prof. Robert Darko Osei, as members.
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A Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr John Kumah, on behalf of the President, charged the members to provide the needed guidance and assistance to the GSS and ensure experienced senior officers led the production of statistics.
He also urged them to supervise the preparation of an appropriate Scheme of Service to guide the career development of the staff and also guide the conduct of all the censuses and surveys outlined in the Harmonising and Improving Statistics in West Africa Project (HISWAP) within the next three years
The new board was also tasked to initiate the process for the drafting of the Legislative Instrument for the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003).
High quality statistics
Dr Kumah encouraged the board to continue to lead the staff of GSS to provide high quality statistics to guide the country’s growth and development as outlined in the Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies.
He said the country depended heavily on statistical service to generate accurate and timely data to report on the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063 and, therefore, tasked the board to lead the country in this direction to promote the effective use of statistics and stimulate research activities.
He assured the board that the government would provide them with the needed resources to facilitate their work since there was increasing demand for credible data for evidence-based decision making.
He further added that the government, through the World Bank, provided the service with an amount of US$150 million for the conduct of the census and to harmonise and strengthen data collection systems in Ghana and seven West African countries.
Appreciation to past board
The deputy finance minister also expressed the government’s appreciation to the immediate past board for their wonderful guidance that culminated in the conduct of the first digital census in the country.
“We were impressed with the release of the provisional results within 44 days of completing field data collection. Now we are guided by the most current data in doing analysis in the ministry,” he stated.
He also thanked the Government Statistician and his team for working tirelessly and smoothly without a governing board for the past five months.
Honour to serve
Dr Bediako said the members deemed it as an honour to be called upon to serve the country.
She said the members were ready to deliver as expected of them.
The Board Chair also urged all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) within the National Statistical System to cooperate with them to achieve their targets.
