Statistical Service to Train 600 Personnel On Census Processing System

By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) intends to train about 600 personnel early next year in STATA and Census and Survey Processing System (CSPRO) for the upcoming population and housing census.

The personnel, according to the Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, would be stationed at the district levels to be able to clean and run analysis of the data.

STATA is powerful statistical software that enables users to analyse, manage, and produce graphical visualisations of data to examine data patterns, while CSPRO is a software package for entering, editing, tabulating and disseminating data from censuses and surveys.

Prof. Annim, who was appointed by the President as the substantive Government Statistician earlier this year, said this when executives of the Ghana Statistical Association (GSA) paid a courtesy call on him to introduce the association and its executives.

The Government Statistician lamented the situation where technical persons or experts were being brought from outside the country to provide technical support to the GSS.

He was of the view that it was time the practice was stopped, given the caliber of expertise the country had, especially within the GSA.

He stated that "it is my desire to start ranking the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in their level of data production and usage as a basis for decision making by the assemblies, and I implore the GSA to position itself for that exercise as an independent body."

Prof. Annim said he was of the view that there was the need for a functional engagement between the academia and industry, thereby pledging his readiness to liaise GSA in his quest for quality data in the country.

The President of GSA, Prof. Nicholas N. N. Nsowah-Nuamah, on his part, urged GSS make adequate use of its human resource, so as to deliver quality statistics to the nation.

This, he said, would enable the association produce accurate, reliable and quality statistics which would serve as the basis for informed decision making by the government and policy makers.

According to him, members of the association were the back bone of the service and were ready to lend their support to the Government Statistician in order realise the mandate of the service.

He briefed the Government Statistician on the duties of the association and the phases it had been through since its formation, as well as its plans to establish the Institute of Chartered Statisticians (ICS) in Ghana.

The Vice President of the GSA, for the Northern Sector of Ghana, Prof. Saeed Bashiru, emphasised the need to have strong collaboration between academia and industry, adding that it was in that regard GSA was calling for the support from all, including that of the Government Statistician to succeed.

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