The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to ensure all financial transactions of the various Assemblies are processed on the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform.
According him, the use of GIFMIS for processing public funds was a legal requirement under section 25(6) of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act and failure to comply with this provision attracts sanctions as stipulated.
The Regional Minister was speaking yesterday at the opening of 2023 Greater Accra Regional Budget Hearing of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
In all, about 29 MMDAs in the Greater Accra Region are expected to present their 2024 to 2027 budget from October 9 to 13.
Constituted into 10 zones with a maximum of three assemblies per zone, they would converge on the host Assembly and present their budget under the guidance of the National Technical Working Team and Regional Coordination Council (RCC).
Mr Quartey stated that, the yearly budget reading was to deepen participatory budgeting and accountability at the local level.
“This strategy adopted by the RCC will not only deepen participatory budgeting at the sub-national level by enabling stakeholders appreciate the financial resource mobilisation and spending priorities but also promote accountability, transparency and inclusion in the financial management at the local level,” he said.
The Regional Minister noted that, the Composite Budget Manual had been revised for use MMDAs since its inception in 2012 by the Ministry of Finance.
In this regard, he said, some key staff of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) have been trained on the Revised Composited Budget Manual and were consequently required to train the Budget Committees of the MMDAs on the document.
The RCC, Mr Quartey said, was working to train 10 MMDAs Budget Committees within the last quarter of this year while nine others would receive similar training in the first quarter of next year.
“The RCC will continue to play its backstopping role to ensure that MMDAs deliver their mandate as required by law,” the minister noted.
Mr Quartey stated that findings from a monitoring exercise carried out by the Regional Planning Co-ordinating Unit showed that most of the sub-structures were operating partially and were also encountering challenges including inadequate office space, staffing, logistics and funds.
He, therefore, called for a review of their revenue collection strategies to be able to boost financial strength as well as provision of logistics to enable them perform their delegated functions.
Director-General of Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Dr Eric Oduro Osae, urged the MMDAs to embrace and actively pursue cost-effective strategies to enhance efficiency in delivering essential services to the citizens.
He noted that Revenue Improvement Action Plan serves as a valuable tool, and its successful implementation holds the potential to significantly enhance revenue mobilisation for the Assemblies.
“Therefore, I strongly encourage the Budget Committees to explore innovative strategies and corresponding activities that will aid us in attaining our shared objective,” he stressed.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
