Erasmus Shalihaxwe
The statistician general and chief executive officer of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), Alex Shimuafeni said the agency’s logo appeared on an Affirmative Repositioning movement (AR) poster without the agency’s knowledge or consent.
Shimuafeni made this statement on Monday while addressing an AR poster about the movement’s election workshop in Windhoek over the weekend, to which the NSA among other institutions was invited.
At the weekend event, the NSA was to present statistics on economic and demographic data, with the specific theme “Namibia at Glance: Key Demographic and Economic Statistics.”
“Since the NSA produces data for all data users, as per Section 4 of the Statistics Act, Act No. 9 of 2011, the NSA responded to AR’s request to provide the currently available data that was already released before and as such, the NSA presented to the workshop on 27 July,” said Shimuafeni.
Shimuafeni said his organisation has the mandate of collecting, producing, analysing and disseminating statistics.
According to him, the NSA releases demographic, socio-economic, and political statistics on a regular basis.
The presentation to any data user, including political parties, which is a worldwide practice, is in line with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, Principle 1, which is about relevance, impartiality, and equal access.
Shimuafeni added that the use of the NSA logo on a political party poster may give the impression that the NSA has sponsored or was involved in organizing the workshop, or that the NSA is part of the AR party.
In this instance, the NSA was only requested to present information on economic and demographic statistics.
“The NSA would also like to inform the nation that the Census Basic report as well as other related thematic reports such as the Labour Force Thematic Report and the Post-Enumeration Survey Report will be released as per the advanced release calendar by 30 October,” he said.
