Chris Makhaye
17 August 2009
Johannesburg — STATISTICS had "a profoundly important role to play in the evolution of democratic societies all over the world", delegates at this year's International Statistical Institute's conference, which is taking place in Durban, heard yesterday.
"Policies for economic and social progress and for the protection of human rights have to be based on solid evidence, which statisticians are uniquely qualified to provide. Furthermore, statisticians also play a key role in monitoring progress on the implementation of those policies," said the institute's president Denise Lievesley.
"Data integrity, rigorous processes of analysis and publication free of political interference have to become the norm," she said.
SA's statistician-general, Pali Lehohla, said SA's challenge was profound. "It is steeped in centuries of discrimination and derogation. We share this difficult history with you in the strong hope that we will pick a leaf of fraternal wisdom from you so that we secure liberation from want as SA and as a continent through the application of science and statistics."
Many delegates said the conference had been an eye-opener for them. Brian Monsell, who is with the Census Bereau in Washington DC, said: " Today data is flowing faster and faster and the methodology used by the statisticians have to keep up with the pace of the information coming in.
"I am hoping to learn how other countries are coping and make contacts along the way," he said.
Willie Lahari, who works for a government agency in Papua New Guinea, will deliver a paper on a breakthrough on innovative methodology in statistics gathering.
He said his paper will be about new ways of desegrating data analysis that will add new knowledge to decision-making.
He has been instrumental in changing gross domestic product statistics from being collected annually to quarterly .
n The institute was founded in 1885. About 2500 delegates are attending the seven-day event .
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