Reliable information is essential for confident policymaking and effective economic management, Chief of Staff Julius Debrah said as the government moved to strengthen coordination of official data across public institutions.
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) signed memoranda of understanding with 25 ministries, departments and agencies aimed at improving how administrative data is shared and used across government to guide policy decisions.
Speaking at the ceremony in Accra, Debrah said government decisions depend on the quality of the information available to policymakers. “Every major decision taken by government rests on one foundation: information,” Debrah said. “When that information is reliable, decisions are confident. When it is incomplete or inconsistent, decisions become uncertain.”
The agreements are designed to address long-standing weaknesses in government data systems, including fragmented databases, inconsistent reporting standards and delays in data transmission across institutions.
By establishing formal data-sharing arrangements with the statistical service, the government aims to harmonize administrative datasets and strengthen the country’s National Statistical System, enabling more accurate monitoring of economic and social trends.
The initiative reinforces the coordinating mandate of the statistical service under the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003), which requires the agency to set standards for official statistics and facilitate data exchange across government institutions while protecting confidentiality.
Debrah said the reforms would allow administrative data generated across sectors including education, health, trade, immigration and environmental management to be integrated into a more coherent national information system.
The Chief of Staff added that the government has also allocated funding in the 2026 national budget to strengthen the capacity of the statistical service and support priority data initiatives. “Statistics are national infrastructure,” he said, noting that just as roads connect communities and digital networks support commerce, data systems connect government decisions to economic and social realities.
The agreements also aim to reduce duplication of effort across public institutions and improve the timeliness of reporting, which officials say will help policymakers allocate resources more efficiently and track development outcomes more accurately.
Debrah said the Office of the President will work closely with the statistical service to monitor implementation of the agreements and ensure that ministries and agencies strengthen internal data governance systems. “When data improves, governance improves,” he said. “And when governance improves, development outcomes improve.”
