GITEGA June 16th (ABP) – The members of the Technical Committee for Statistical Information (CTIS) met on Monday in Gitega in the 20th ordinary meeting of that committee to analyze and validate the results of the statistical work carried out by the services and organizations under the national statistical system of Burundi during the first half of the year 2021.
The Director General of the Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of Burundi (ISTEEBU) who is also Chair of the CTIS, Mr. Nicolas Ndayishimiye, opened the works of that six-day meeting by appreciating the positive evolution of the process of production of statistical data which records remarkable progress within the statistical services of the ministries of Burundi.
Among the advances noted within the national statistical system of Burundi, Mr. Ndayishimiye cited among others, the creation in 2014 of statistical services which are at work within the ministries, the production of statistical data in all areas of national life, the creation of budget lines used for statistical production within the ministries.
Those statistical services have made considerable progress in producing methodologies and frameworks for the statistical data collection tools of the ministries. But as there were ministries that were merged or split into 2 or 3 with the new national institutions that took resulted from the 2020 elections, they also produced the methodologies and outlines for collecting updated data that will be analyzed by the participants.
The meeting participants will thus analyze and validate the methodologies, frameworks and data collection tools of the different sectors that produce the statistical data. They will also validate the statistics produced by the various components of Burundi national statistical system. They will also analyze the statistical directories of the 3 ministries, namely the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS; the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Youth, Sports and Culture; the Ministry of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security.
In addition, the members of the CTIS will analyze and validate the implementing texts of the new statistical law N° 1/08 of May 20, 2021 amending law N° 1/17 of September 25, 2007 on the organization of the statistical system in Burundi which has just been enacted. Among the main innovations of that law, the Director General of ISTEEBU notably indicated that it takes into account the ten fundamental principles of official statistics.
It also incorporates the six main principles of good statistical practice in Africa which are contained in the African Charter on Statistics that Burundi ratified in 2014. Another innovation of that law is linked to the fact that all those who work in production statistics will have to take an oath with regard to confidentiality and statistical confidentiality. That law also provides for penalties for those who provide false statistical information or those who knowingly refuse to provide statistical information.
The new law also fills the gaps so that statistical activities in Burundi can be integrated and aligned with the international and national development contexts marked by the global agendas such as 2030 of the Sustainable Development Goals, 2063 of Africa’s development, 2050 of the East African Economic Community, the Burundi National Development Plan (PND 2018-2027), its sectoral and community strategies and policies.