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Uganda: Lack of Data Depository Hurts Planning
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The Monitor (Kampala)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Martin Luther Oketch
Kampala
DESPITE being among the top African countries with sounding statistical data, Uganda still lacks a central data depository system; making planning a frightful exercise.
The lack of such a system is partly because the country does not have a policy for the management and dissemination of data consequently serious data gaps exist as well as conflicting information in key areas of the economy.
The Executive Director of Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Mr John M. Male Mukasa said statistical development in Uganda is not uniform across the National Strategic Sectors and has called for the creation of Meta data and Central data Depositary for information across all sectors - giving information about information of a specific subject in a particular ministry, department or agency with detailed chronologies of a compiled data.
"Most of the transformation has occurred in UBOS and a few other agencies like in Bank of Uganda while in other government ministries and departments have no independent statistics department," he said.
He was presenting a paper titled: Strengthening Statistics for Planning emerging Issues for Statistical Development under the Plan for National Statistical Development phase two at a seminar for Permanent Secretaries on March 25.
He disclosed that areas with severe data gaps include; urban housing, land evictions, energy and mineral resources, household wealth, rural prices, land use productivity, Business/ private expenditure on research and development VAT/Corporation tax, TINs among others.
Mr Male said that a central data depositary for sector specific challenges and priorities needs to be created by the government by availing budget lines for statistics. "Invisible statistics functional/lack of statistics outfit, capacity gaps in management of micro data and ICT infrastructures and personnel are some of the emerging issue we are seeing," he said.
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Uganda Bureau of Statistics is mandated to provide the development and maintenance of National Statistical System by ensuring that data collection, analysis, and dissemination of integrated, relevant, reliable and timely statistical information.
Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr John Mitala said that Permanent Secretaries in the past have had concerns about the conflicting data/information from different sources, which has caused distortions in the planning and policy formulation.
Recognising that whereas government resources are scare, some sectors generate statistics that are already being generated by others, Mr Mitala said that the Plan for National Statistics Development should be used as a stepping stone for the elimination of unjustified duplication of effort in statistical production.
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