The President of the Institute of Statisticians and Data Scientists, Professor Nicholas N. N. Nsowah-Nuamah, has called for the title "Government Statistician" to be changed to "Statistician General", arguing that the current designation creates the wrong public perception about the independence of Ghana's official statistics.
According to the former Deputy/acting Government Statistician, the title, which dates back to the colonial era, gives many Ghanaians the impression that official statistical data were produced to support the government of the day rather than serve the national interest.
The eminent statistician explained that such perceptions continued to undermine public confidence in official data on inflation, unemployment, population, gross domestic product (GDP) and other key economic indicators.
Speaking in an interview, Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) was established to serve the Republic of Ghana and not any political administration.
"The institution serves the Republic of Ghana, not the government of the day. The title should reflect that independence," he stated.
Public confidence
Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said the recurring public criticism of official economic statistics, particularly inflation figures, was partly attributable to the title of the head of the Statistical Service.
He said many people believed statistics released by the GSS were influenced by the government because the head of the institution is officially known as the Government Statistician.
He stressed that official statistics were produced using internationally accepted scientific methods and professional standards, adding that governments themselves required credible data for effective planning and policymaking.
He recalled that whenever inflation figures showed significant improvement, sections of the public often questioned their credibility.
"Some friends would tell me that figures had been cooked because they believed such a reduction was impossible. Others also believed there must have been some invisible hand behind the numbers," he said.
Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah, however, rejected such claims, insisting that statistical outputs were not manipulated to favour any government.
He explained that throughout his tenure as Government Statistician, no political officeholder interfered with the production or publication of official statistics, and he believed it had been so since then.
According to him, governments depended on accurate statistics to formulate policies and monitor national development.
Role of GSS
Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said the Ghana Statistical Service remained the country's principal producer of official statistics and played a critical role in national development.
He said the service conducted the Population and Housing Census, the Ghana Living Standards Survey, Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and labour force surveys, and also compiled the Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation figures and national accounts, including GDP.
The data generated by the service, he said, informed government policies, budget preparation, development planning and private sector investment decisions.
He added that the statistics were also relied upon by Parliament, the Bank of Ghana, development partners, researchers and international organisations.
To improve public understanding of official statistics, Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said the Statistical Service had over the years organised regular engagements with journalists to explain the methodology used in compiling inflation and other indicators.
Inflation explained
Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah further attributed some of the public scepticism surrounding inflation figures to misconceptions about what inflation actually measures.
He explained that a decline in inflation did not imply that prices of goods and services were falling, but rather that the rate at which prices were increasing had slowed.
"When we say inflation has come down, it does not mean prices have come down. It simply means the speed at which prices are increasing has slowed," he explained.
