National Statistical Office (NSO) says most government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are using outdated data, a development that has resulted in the provision of inappropriate information to the public.
NSO principal economist Mary Gwaligwali said in Salima last week a good number of the MDAs do not also have complete statistical units, instead, data is often handled by the institution’s monitoring and evaluation sections.
She was speaking during a National Statistical System (NSS) Steering Committee meeting for directors and heads of planning units from the MDAs and other key stakeholders such as the academia and civil society.
The revelation comes after President Lazarus Chakwera on February 14 this year delivered a State of the Nation (Sona) address which attracted a litany of queries on some projects he highlighted as completed or at various stages.
Two weeks later the President was forced to advise Parliament to remove the queried data in his Sona which was deemed erroneous.
Chakwera further said he had summoned and reprimanded five unidentified technocrats and also fired their team leader for misleading him by providing incorrect information in his Sona.
Making her presentation, Gwaligwali revealed officers in most MDAs have limited skills to use and update data management systems effectively thereby creating challenges in accessing appropriate administrative data from them.
“This has brought about coordination challenges in accessing timely administrative data from MDAs due to the lack of systems like a harmonised portal to integrate all the systems in order to be having real time data.
“In addition, most statistical units in these MDAs are not adequately funded; hence, inefficient operation,” said Gwaligwali.
She stressed the need for strong stakeholder coordination, regular review of systems and strategies, production of regular reports and continuous capacity building which is crucial in maintaining data quality and relevance.
NSO commissioner of statistics Shelton Kanyanda in an interview on the sidelines of the meeting said his office had been engaging the MDAs and other stakeholders in a disjointed manner; hence, the challenges.
“But we are trying to speak the same language by ensuring that we work together with these MDAs and other key sectors.
“When we are building the capacity within NSO we are also building the capacity within the MDAs. So we want to work as a team,” he said.
Kanyanda also emphasised the need for the country to have a statistical system that is well coordinated across all stakeholders in the data fraternity.
NSO is implementing a five-year Sadc Statistics for Capacity Building (StatCap) project funded by the World Bank to improve data collection, analysis and dissemination for informed decision-making.
