Quality data important

DISSEMINATING quality data that have integrity increases transparency and promotes accountability.
It complements important government processes such as budget management, auditing and formulating various policies for social and economic development for a developing country such as Papua New Guinea.
The Government is currently running a nation on ad-hoc bases with ad-hoc budgets without considering realistic representations of the physical conditions of the population
What a sad reality.
Without good statistics, governments cannot deliver efficient administration, good management, and evidence-based policy making. What is needed now more than ever before is the paradigm shift to the office responsible for collecting, analysing and producing data timely – the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The NSO is a very important Government office mandated to compile and produce official statistics and data on a timely basis.
Statistics provide a means for the public to monitor the activities of a government and make decisions about their own lives.
Whether funds from the budget reaches the unreached remains a challenge, given the issues with accuracy of the data available.
The failure of Census 2020 is challenging.
The development indicators of the data are derived from the census data.
Therein lies the challenge having to deal with poor indicators.
The ability to provide regular and reliable data on the economy and the well-being of the population is an important indicator of good policies and institutions.
The Government should intervene in this very key agency that deals with not only the population but also provides key development indicators in social, economic, political aspects the country.
Without good statistics, the Government cannot deliver efficient administration, good management and evidence-based policy making.
Failing that, the slogan of “Take Back PNG” lacks substances and is just a cheap political stunt.

Harold Zac,
Morobe