The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has stressed the need for the Legislature to build its capacity to efficiently make use of data in its oversight responsibility over the Executive.
He said given how data fed into baseline study and benchmarking, it was critical that Parliament utilised data to ensure the prudence of the deployment of the financial resources of the country in pursuit of national development and growth.
“Parliament will have to build its capacity in the understanding and application of Big Data in its day-to-day activities to ensure that it is more nimble and effective in its oversight responsibility over the Executive and also to be more responsive to the challenges and expectations of the times. Sources of data exist in their millions. These are generated at a very rapid rate and are available everywhere one is, particularly on social media platforms and networks.
“Facebook alone generates in excess of 500 terabytes of data every day in the form of pictures, videos, messages among many others. Data also exists in different formats – structured, semi-structured and unstructured data. Data in an Excel sheet for example is said to be structured, whilst in emails, they are semi-structured.
“These constitute what is referred to as Big Data which, in its raw form is of no use, except when it has been analysed. We need to understand the data to make a sense out of it and we need a lot more data scientists in this respect; not just managers who are lost when confronted with data,” he stated.
Mr. Bagbin said this in an address read on his behalf by his Special Assistant, Mr. Kofi Attoh at the official launch of a three-day data fair in Parliament last Wednesday.
It is on the theme “Achieving effective parliamentary oversight: the role of data evidence”.
It is being organised by the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), the Ghana Statistical Service and the International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP).
Mr. Bagbin said data empowered governments, state institutions and private organisations alike to establish baselines for purposes of planning and forecasting, adding that “it facilitates monitoring in order to make quick decisions that will keep plans and projects on track.”
He pointed out that oversight was an element of good governance and transparency, and represented those interventions made by Parliament.
