The Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Daniel Botwe, has urged all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as well as corporate organisations to ensure that the decisions they make are informed by data.
He said this at the Policy Dialogue organized by the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) themed “Census Data for Policy Decision-Making and Sustainable Development.”
“Development primarily is for the benefit of the population and as such the dynamics of the population at the different levels should be the basic considerations in any development planning decisions we make,” he stated.
He said the government was vigorously pursuing an agenda to digitalize the economy to operate strictly based on what available data suggests.
“The importance of informing policy decisions with data cannot, therefore, be over-emphasized…,” he added.
He stressed that the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), are the basic units of planning and developing the country and therefore advised them to ensure that the decisions they make were informed by data.
He commended Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) on the idea to work with Ghana Statistical Service(GSS), National Development Planning Commission(NDPC),National Population Council (NPC) and the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development(MLGDRD) to organise the Policy Dialogue to bring to the fore the importance of data usage in all policy decisions in Ghana.
Priscilla Nimako, ISD
