By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, December 19, 2022 – Recognizing the disjointed state of statistics in the country, the Government has decided to phase out the old Department of Statistics and institute a new body.
- E Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance, Investment and Trade with responsibility for statistics described the current structure as.
“fragmented with no coordination mechanism, no common strategy and program, and no institutional leadership— [as] statistics are currently disseminated by various agencies, leading to no overarching strategy or plan.”
With the passing of the new Statistics Bill on December 13th a new body independent of the government will be formed, the National Statistical Authority. It replaces the Department of Statistics and fulfills yet another promise of the people’s contract between the PNP government and the residents of the TCI.
Saunders said the “recent obligations at the local, regional, and international levels have placed new demands on the national statistical system” and current staffing could not keep up.
The Authority will have access to all records, documents, returns, and certificates in the control of public bodies
Saunders explained. Whether this will include the police was not specifically stated by the Minister.
As it stands now, getting statistics from the police in the Turks and Caicos is a dismal affair, queries go unanswered, murder victims ago unnamed and suspicious deaths are reported and never heard about again. There are instances of all these in 2022 alone. But it’s not just the police, statistics on inflation and interest rates were not accessible to the public even as the globe struggled through a cost of living and supply chain crisis and there were multiple instances where statistics on COVID-19 cases just stopped being disseminated for extended periods of time in the midst of the pandemic.
And population sizes on the islands remain obscure.
“It is our Government’s intention for the Statistical Authority to become the Statistical Governing Body of these islands, and lead the processes required for the modernization of the data management systems.” Saunders explained
He detailed that the new agency would oversee
- The measurement of new concerns like the environment. climate change, and sustainable development.
- Regional and International reporting commitments.
It also makes provisions for mandatory annual reporting by the Authority to the House of Assembly and the creation of an advisory body, the National Statistical Committee (NSC). This committee will be comprised of heads of other agencies and the representatives of the private sector “to ensure a participatory, consultative, all-inclusive, and transparent approach to the development and dissemination of national statistics.”
Saunders ensured that there would be no mass firing of employees. All would be able to choose whether they wanted to stay on with the new authority or remain a public servant in another department.