State appoints new national statistician

 THE National Executive Council has appointed Roko Kaloma as the acting National Statistician and head of the National Statistic Office.

He replaces Joseph Aka, who has been acting in the position since 2009.

Minister for National Planning Charles Abel said the Government could not afford to waste its resources on people who failed to deliver (services) on time.

He said he trusted Kaloma to deliver what the Government wanted.

“I have directed Kaloma to focus on the completion of the 2011 national census by November and present the data to parliament updating the national accounts, the Consumer Price Index calculation basis and the delivery of the Electronic ID programme,” Abel said.

He directed that the National Planning Department oversee an audit team to audit the 2011 census budget expenditure.

“Lots of money have been spent on the national census and yet we don’t have an outcome,” he said.

“We will really go through the books and audit every toea spent on this important event.”

He expects the audit team to start as soon as possible.

Abel thanked Aka for carrying out the 2010 national census. Kaloma had been the deputy national statistician.