The Government Statistician Professor Samuel Kobina Annim has indicated that the relationship between his organization, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation, has not been strong enough although the two institutions are supposed to work hand-in-hand.

He told TV3’s Johnnie Hughes in an exclusive interview on Tuesday, October 27 that he was expecting to have a more functional engagement and clarity in terms of what the statistical service does vis-à-vis the ministry’s mandates. But that has not materialized.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry was created to “institutionalize results-based management and evaluative practice across the public sector leading to improved results delivery, evidence-based policy decision making, and transformational impact of government priority programs”.

It is also expected to, among other things, facilitate coordination and dialogue through innovative “lab” approaches between public sector organizations, private sector, and relevant stakeholders to implement government programs.

Prof Annim said “I must indicate that the relationship (between the GSS and the Ministry) has not been as strong as I would have preferred. I was expecting a more functional engagement and clarity in terms of what statistical service does and what the ministry also does and this what I really want to it clarified.

“First of all, we should understand that statistical service per, the Statistical Service Act 2019 1003 is the only agency in the country that designates statistics as national statistics. Apart from the Ghana Statistical Service any other institution that puts up any number would be considered as experimental and has to go through due process.

“But having said that, we need both sides. There is nothing like bad statistics but every number should be interrogated in the contest that it has been computed. So moving forward, we are hoping that the Ministry will come to statistical service, which it does but we want to increase regularly because user engagement is our top priority.

“We have had initial discussions on that, but as I said we wanted to have the legal backing first which now we have it.”