Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim
The Information Services Department (ISD)of the Information of Ministry on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), to improve the conduct of surveys on important national issues.
The MoU would enable the GSS to train the 260 District Information Officers of the ISD nationwide on how to scientifically sample data, sample size and analyse macro data.
It is expected that surveys would be conducted on pressing national matters every two weeks to help inform government’s decision-making.
At the signing of the MoU at a brief ceremony at the Information Ministry in Accra, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the MoU would ensure that the data collected on the field by information officers was scientifically driven and credible to guide government’s decisions and interventions.
It would also reduce the margin of error in the data collected.
To that end, he said the Ministry had created a fully-fledged Research Division within the structure of the ISD to help train and equip staff with the requisite knowledge and tools in the conduct of surveys.
At the signing of the MoU, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, the Government Statistician, signed for the GSS while Mr David Owusu Amoah, acting Chief Information Officer of the ISD, initialled for his institution.
Prof. Annim, in brief remarks, expressed delight over the collaboration with the ISD and express the belief that it would enhance the capacity of the Department to execute its mandate efficiently.
He said the agreement was historic as it was the first time a government agency had signed MoU with the Statistical Service to help in conducting surveys and pledged its full cooperation in the exercise.
Mr Owusu Amoah, on his part, expressed happiness over the signing of the MoU, saying that it marked a departure from the “old way of doing things to a new way of doing things”.
He was of the conviction that the agreement would greatly improve ISD’s method of conducting research on matters of national importance, which government could rely on to make decisions.
The team toured the offices of the Research Division of the ISD to acquaint themselves with its operations.