The creation in secret of a ‘parallel IBGE’ brought to light the growing dissatisfaction of the employees with the actions of the president of the statistics institute, Marcio Pochmann.
Employees in leadership positions and former directors of the institute are outraged by the “authoritarianism and lack of transparency” in Pochmann’s actions and his “megalomaniac” project to create an integrated system to control information in the country.
Pochmann’s ambition is to create a large system that centralizes the production and dissemination of information in the country, said a former employee who held a management position in the institute – noting that the IBGE president often expresses his admiration for China’s statistics agency.
At a recent event, Pochmann condemned the spread of “obscurantism” by Big Techs and advocated for the creation of a “sovereign” data system.
The internal crisis was initially exposed by the publication of an anonymous manifesto last Friday. On the same day, the union association of IBGE employees, Assibge, called for a protest today against the “authoritarian behavior that has marked Pochmann’s recent actions.”
The ‘parallel IBGE’ denounced by the employees is the Foundation IBGE+, created without any discussion about its structure or objectives.
It is a public foundation of private law, meaning a non-profit entity that provides greater administrative autonomy to public bodies.
The foundation was established on July 12, but its existence was only reported (on the IBGE’s intranet) on September 9 – and, according to the union, in a “pamphlet-like and superficial” manner.
Employees were caught off guard and had to go to a notary to find information about the statute.
Pochmann, a tireless critic of privatizations, now finds himself accused of privatizing the IBGE.
“I was surprised because even a left-wing employee is calling for his head,” said a researcher.
According to a statement from the institute’s presidency, the creation of the Foundation IBGE+ is due to the “urgency assumed in the face of the restrictive budget situation.”
Furthermore, the initiative had the “support” of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the approval of the Ministry of Planning and Budget.
The employees’ association stated that the existence of the foundation was never mentioned by Pochmann in meetings with employee representatives. Assibge criticized the “inaccuracies and omissions” in the notes released by the institute’s presidency.
“In a frivolous and disrespectful attitude towards the union and the entire IBGE staff, the statement also attempted to plant in the press the version that the category’s outrage over the secret creation of a private law foundation was just a reflection of the controversy surrounding remote work,” said Assibge.
Hiring for this new foundation has already begun, according to people familiar with the matter. There will be its own structure and the possibility of hiring CLT employees.
“In addition to being absurd because no one knows how public and confidential information will be used, the foundation will be a huge source of jobs, as is already happening,” said a former IBGE director.
There is no clarity on the objectives and scope of action of the parallel institute. Pochmann has only commented on the issue through notes and without going into details.
In one of these notes, the presidency said that the foundation will allow the institute to “receive resources to support research or projects developed with ministries, public banks, and autarchies, previously impossible due to budget dependence, and can be operationalized through this support foundation.”
The note also says that “the resources absorbed by the Foundation IBGE+ will be retained and must be returned to the institute.”
“If this foundation is not a sham exit, it is a gateway to a scandal,” a former institute president told the Brazil Journal. “The IBGE is a public good that produces public goods. What about the confidentiality of information? It’s an ethical and moral problem.”
According to him, the lack of definition of limits and objectives opens the door to “dangerous anything-goes.”
Employees point out that the expense of the employee payroll is not a restriction for IBGE projects, as Pochmann has claimed. Surveys such as the Agricultural Census, for example, have their own independent budget, which must be presented by the Government and approved by Congress.
A professor at the University of Campinas Institute of Economics, Pochmann is a historical figure of the Worker’s Party (PT) and has been president of the Perseu Abramo Foundation and the Lula Institute.
Although hierarchically subordinate to the Planning Ministry led by Simone Tebet, he was directly appointed by Lula.
The appointment prompted criticism from economists like Edmar Bacha, a former president of the institute, due to Pochmann’s troubled and problematic term as president of Ipea between 2007 and 2012, during Lula’s first term.
At that time, Pochmann persecuted the ‘neoliberals’ at the agency, marginalized researchers, and organized contests with an ideological bias.
The same pattern has now begun at the IBGE. “And it’s not because the person is a Bolsonaro supporter, it’s enough to disagree with their opinions – something that had never happened,” said an employee with many years of experience.
Tebet has not publicly commented on the crisis at IBGE nor has she actually supported the establishment of the foundation.
To the Brazil Journal, the minister’s office said that “the proposal to create IBGE+ was presented to the Ministry of Planning and Budget, as the Institute is an agency within said ministry.”
According to the office, IBGE “has administrative autonomy to create said foundation.”
So far, the current and former employees’ complaints have focused on the creation of the Foundation IBGE+ and labor issues, such as the requirement to return to in-person work and the transfer of some institute activities to the Jardim Botânico, in the southern zone of Rio – a prestigious area but with difficult public transport access. Many IBGE workers live in the North Zone and Baixada Fluminense.
Pochmann’s project also includes creating what he calls the National System of Geosciences, Statistics, and Data (Singed), with the IBGE as coordinator.
“In his delusions, IBGE should be a kind of supreme authority in controlling the internet and data in Brazil,” said a career employee familiar with the initiative. “That’s why he talks so much about China. It’s an extremely authoritarian and outdated vision, even for someone with a left-wing bias.”
In late July, IBGE held the National Conference of Data Producers and Users, in partnership with the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
The theme of the discussions was the “sovereignty” of Brazilian statistics and the “risks and opportunities of the digital age.”
In his speech at the conference opening, Pochmann said that “in the world transitioning to the Digital Age, there is fear of the awakening of the risks of a spread of ignorance rooted in the power of disinformation, channeled by the advanced process of monopolization of knowledge directed by a few gigantic transnational information technology corporations.”
Furthermore, according to Pochmann, “by capturing, storing, systematizing, defining, and directing access to knowledge through the informational revolution, the so-called Big Techs configure a new world operated in the paths of illiteracy with the dissemination of an entrenched kind of new obscurantism growing in the shadow of the deregulatory collapse of the public sphere.”
This “new obscurantism,” according to the IBGE president, resembles the power of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, which monopolized knowledge and shaped obscurantist ignorance, characteristic of agrarian society tied to the feudal mode of production.”
In Pochmann’s words, “the vaccine against the advance of lies and disinformation” is the restoration of “nations’ sovereignty over data” – hence the need to create a Singed coordinated by the IBGE. “We are making history,” he said.
But unlike the secretive creation of the foundation, the establishment of Singed needs to go through Congress and will depend on a new budget allocation.
According to technicians and former IBGE executives, Brazil lacks a general statistics plan, as well as the harmonization of information among various agencies – but an eventual integrated system would have to be implemented in a transparent and negotiated manner.
“What we have at IBGE is a lost, authoritarian, ideologically negative direction,” commented a recently retired researcher. “In 40 years, I have never seen anything like it, with letters of protest from research coordinators and manifestations from employees who historically support the PT.”
Fortunately, so far, career employees and former directors of the institute ensure that regularly published information, such as inflation and GDP surveys, remain reliable and are conducted following technical criteria.
Source
Arwen Volkov, A graduate of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland with a degree in International Finance, Arwen specializes in sustainable finance and green investments. She began her career at an investment bank in London, where she developed financing models for environmentally friendly projects. Known for her analytical and strategic thinking skills, Arwen is a sought-after financial consultant. In her spare time, she mentors fintech startups, contributing to their growth strategies. She is also a nature enthusiast and an amateur photographer.
