Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu has urged Ghana to strengthen its data foundations before it leans on artificial intelligence (AI), warning that the technology is only as smart as the data it receives.
He made the case in a written reflection after joining Africa’s statistics leaders at STATCOM 10 and the 12th Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV XII), hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Dr Iddrisu explained that millions of people now ask AI tools for answers, so official figures that arrive late, are hard to find, or carry poor labels invite machines to guess. He set out seven steps for the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), among them better metadata, a push for the Statistics Bill, 2026, and funding from Ghana’s own budget.
“There are no shortcuts. AI should push us to strengthen the basics, not skip them.”
Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu
Official Data Must Be Ready for AI Tools
Delegates at the forum tackled two big questions, among others: how to pay for good statistics and how to prepare them for the age of AI. Dr Iddrisu answered the second with a plain starting point. “AI starts with good data, not with the machine,” he wrote.
When official numbers are hard to find, late or poorly labelled, he warned, AI will guess, or it will quote someone else’s figures. He therefore wants Ghana’s data to be on time, of high quality, easy to search and clearly labelled, so that machines read it correctly.
Dr Iddrisu gave AI a defined place in the statistical system. Used well, it can speed up work, cut costs, spot errors and sort survey answers. It cannot knock on doors or stand in for expert judgement. “AI makes a strong system stronger and a weak system weaker.”
Africa Must Pay for Its Own Data
Funding formed the other major thread. Some African governments now pay for most of their statistics from their own budgets, which Dr Iddrisu called the way forward. He gave the reason in one line: “When data depends on outside money, it stops when the money stops.”
He wants Ghana to follow that path. GSS will make the case for funding statistics in the same way the country funds roads and schools. The Statistics Bill, 2026, which he is pushing, provides for sustainable funding, among other things.
Dr Iddrisu described trust as “the real currency” of official statistics and illustrated the risk with a simple scenario. An official report may show prices rising by 3 percent while a market woman reports that her costs have gone up by 20 percent. People will side with their own experience, he suggested.
When statistics do not match people’s lives, he insisted, officials must explain them clearly and check whether they are measuring what matters. GSS will keep explaining its numbers in plain words so that every citizen can trust them.
Pilots and Leadership Shape Digital Exercises
Countries planning digital censuses showed why pilots matter, Dr Iddrisu observed. They tried the tablets, training, network, and logistics on a small scale first, fixed the gaps, and then scaled up. He urged budgets that cover everything, including connectivity, security and maintenance, and not only the gadgets.
Leadership also changes outcomes. Where a Prime Minister or President chairs the committee, ministries move together, and statistics become a national priority rather than “just an office project.”
Dr Iddrisu listed seven commitments for GSS and Ghana. The service will check its AI readiness on two fronts: whether it can use AI responsibly, and whether AI can find and read GSS data correctly. It will fix its foundations through better metadata, common formats, clear licences and machine-readable data.
AI will enter the work only where it truly helps, and people will stay in charge. The service will push the Statistics Bill, 2026, which provides for the governed use of AI and administrative data. It will make the case for funding statistics from the national budget, pilot every big digital exercise before rollout, and cost the full life cycle of each one.
Dr Iddrisu closed by looking at Africa’s future. Machines will read the data, leaders will act on it, and citizens will judge it. He wants that data to belong to Africa, to be paid for by Africans and to tell the truth about them.
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