Statistics agency roots for better usage of data
Enterprise
By
Graham Kajilwa
| Nov 19, 2025
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) is strongly advocating for improved data utilisation as the country prepares to host the Global Data Festival in June 2026.
Speaking on Tuesday, KNBS Director General Macdonald Obudho noted that despite vast amounts of data being generated, the consumption and application of this information remain insufficient.
“A lot of statistics are being produced, but the concern is how well we utilise them,” Obudho emphasised.
“We need to promote the use of statistics.”
READ MORE
Over 2,000 EPZ workers return to work after union dispute
Regional states advance plan for unified shipping line
Building alliances: Why African countries must invest in each other
Why accountants are concerned over Sh1.7tr unaccounted public expenditure
How new AI systems could unlock opportunities for businesses, economy
Digital taxi drivers win fight for new rates as strike disrupts market
What causes rifts in family wealth transfer
Filling the doughnut hole: Anatomy of great customer experience
Obudho was speaking in Nairobi during the inauguration of the National Planning Committee for the Global Data Festival to be held next June.
The launch coincided with the National Statistics Conference to commemorate African Statistics Day 2025 under the theme Leveraging Innovations in Data and Statistics to Promote a Just and Peaceful, Inclusive and Prosperous Society for Africans.
Experts at the conference discussed the influence of technology in data collection, analysis, and dissemination.
The conference heard that most of the data collected by researchers remains confined in government departments and agencies.
Obudho said statisticians should be cognisant of the changes in their spaces, especially in technology.
He said the Global Data Festival will assist in providing better ways, aided by technology, on how to collect and collate data in exercises such as the national census.
Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data Jenna Slotin said Kenya’s leadership has shown that modernising data systems is not only a technical exercise but a deliberate political choice.
She said data is now one of the most important assets that a country can invest in.
“Millions of dollars are spent on data, but often with numerous duplications and fragmentations,” she said.
Slotin noted that for every Sh130 invested in data systems, one gets an average of Sh4,160 in return.
“This is an extraordinary return by any standard, better than any traditional investment and comparable to the highest impact development interventions like vaccines,” she said.