There are many statistical skeletons of statisticians strewn around at the hands of politicians. One remarkable example is the Greek statistician my brother and friend Andreas Georgiou , about whom I have written no less than six articles over the 14 years since his persecution began.
You may recall the plight of this persecuted chief statistician of the Greek statistics office.
Statistics is a conduit of trust. Only those who are trusted can acquit themselves well in this calling.
Georgiou had written to us that theGreekSupreme Court had decided, in spring 2023, to accept his request to annul the conviction decision of the Civil Appeals Court in the case of simple slanderfor his defending the corrected fiscal statistics of 2006-2009.
Simple slander means makingtruestatements that happen to damage the reputation of the plaintiff. This is when you see value in Morena Mohlomi s Corporate Code of Governance.
Mohlomi, a Mosotho intellectual of the 18th century, established the Mohlomi Leadership Academy in Ngolile in Lesotho, an area that settler colonialism annexed into South Africa. He certainly inspired Georgiou with his words: A person's conscience, rather than the pressure of the community or norms imposed by others, should be their only guide. Fate will be your friend if you treat other people, especially the weak and unfortunate, with compassion and generosity.
Almost, and just almost, free at last, Georgiou, formerly of his countrys statistics office, has had the sword of Damocles hanging over his head for nearly 15 years. His sin was doing the right thing in terms of the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, which in the period even became global law as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the European Code of Practice and the International Monetary Funds Special Data Dissemination Standards.
In the field of official statistics there are also political victims because statistics is the science of statecraft, which places the national bean counter in the line of the foul breath of politics.
In Russia, Stalin executed his chief statistician for returning a census count less than what Stalin expected, after the peasantry had died of starvation under Stalins hand. It baffles the mind that they could have survived and be in the count. Their fate was determined - death by starvation.
Munir Sheikh , Canadas former chief statistician, resigned in 2010 after the minister he reported to decided on the methods of statistical practice, turning the practice into a political football. It took the Canadian statistician emeritus Ivan Fellegi , who served for 55 years in office, 25 of which he was the head of the organisation, to restore professional integrity to the census of Canada that the minister had chosen to defile.
Graciela Bevacqua of Argentinas National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), whom I invited to South Africa in 2014 to share her gruesome persecution by politicians over the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is another skeletal exhibit at the hands of politics. She was driven out of her office in 2011 by Argentinian politician Guillermo Moreno, with golf clubs.
She informed me last month that, after 12 years, she is taking the stand against her tormentor Moreno in a Court of Justice case as a witness in the then minister Morenos fanatical manipulation of the CPI.
Georgiou, who at the time was working for the IMF, was invited by the Greek government in 2010 to head that countrys statistics office, ELSTAT. We liked each other from the very beginning, I suppose because of the unsettling and questioning character we both possessed. While we used to take no nonsense, we also used to be peace builders at the UN Statistics Commission. Little did I know that Georgiou would be my comrade in statistics for longer than I expected.
When he left office much earlier than expected, I found myself having to mention and raise his case at the United Nations Statistics Commission, just as I took on the cases of Argentina and Canada, very much in the face of protestations from both countries.
In one meeting, the Argentinians walked out of my presentation and went to protest at the South African permanent mission. I said to the ambassador: Let them come; I am ready.
Interestingly enough, on the eve from my office in 2017, a communique through our ambassador in Argentina sent greetings and a message of deep appreciation through our South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs to me for standing on the right side of history of official statistics in the case of Argentina.
The Canadian Chief Statistician also tried to protest about my critique of the conduct of his minister, but Canadian society, especially the Statistician Emeritus, Fellegi, dealt with the minister duly and directly.
Ironically, the chief statistician that was statistician that was protesting to my mis
