Tanzania ratifies African Charter on Statistics, but...

Finance and Planning minister, Dr Philip Mpango

What you need to know:

Members of Parliament yesterday rectified the African Charter on Statistics with a condition of not disclosing statistical information, which was likely to adversely affect the country.

Dodoma. Parliament has ratified the African Charter on Statistics, but some statistical information will continue to be confidential.

The National Assembly ratified the charter, but decided some statistical information would not be disseminated for public consumption.

Tabling a motion in Parliament earlier, Finance and Planning minister, Dr Philip Mpango said the charter was unveiled by the African Union (AU) on February 4, 2009. According to the charter, African statistics shall not be made inaccessible in anyway whatsoever. The concomitant right to access for all users without restriction shall be guaranteed by domestic laws.

Dr Mpango said the Charter’s ratification was meant to serve as a policy framework for statistics development in Africa, especially the production, management and dissemination of statistical data and information at national, regional and continental levels.

“This will ensure improved quality and comparability of the statistics required to monitor the economic and social integration process on the continent,” he said.

However, a section of MPs called for a review of the 2015 Statistics Act and its 2018 amendments to make it possible for Tanzania to implement the African Charter on Statistics.

Speaking on behalf of the Leader of the Official Opposition, Mr David Silinde said the Statistics Act 2015 had loopholes which should be plugged before ratification of the African Charter on Statistics.

The law requires individuals and institutions to seek approval from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) before communicating their research or survey findings to the public.

Mr Silinde (Momba-Chadema) said the amendments were meant to limit the freedom of institutions and individuals involved in collecting, analysing and disseminating statistical information and were contrary to the African Charter on Statistics.

“We need to make some changes and align the law with the African Charter on Statistics,” he said.

His views were echoed by Mr Saed Kubenea (Ubungo-Chadema), who said the Statistics Act was meant to distort original data, contrary to the objectives of the charter which encourages member states to come up with statistics that reflected the reality in Africa.

He added it would not be possible to implement the charter while Tanzania had a law stating that it was an offence to publish statistics that invalidate those conducted by official entities.

“The government needs to be open-minded because it is not always that NBS is accurate,” said Mr Kubenea.

“Ratification of the charter is a good thing, but we need to satisfy ourselves that our statistics are not cooked up, and that they reflect the reality.”

Budget Committee vice chairman Mashimba Ndaki asked the government to increase funding and other resources for NBS for Tanzania to be able to implement the charter.

“The government needs to ensure that NBS is strong financially and has adequate human resources if it is to produce data timely as required by the charter,” he said.