Red Cross Society commits to operational efficiency

Justice Agbenorsi Aug - 21 - 2024 , 09:57

The Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) is putting measures in place to improve on its operational efficiency to attract more support to discharge its mandate efficiently.

The acting Secretary-General of the society, Solomon Gayoni Gbolo, said this when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament in Accra.

This was after the committee had commended the GRCS for its improved financial ratio for the year under review - 2023.

Other members of the society who were present at the meeting were the Finance and Administration Manager, Patience Otinkorang; the Internal Auditor, Charles Tettegah, and the Central Regional Manager, Mohammed Baidoo.

Projects

On compensations, Mr Gbolo said the society had entered into partnership with Fontef, a non-governmental organisation based in Switzerland, to pay GH¢ 73,500 to landowners to roll out a sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) campaign in the Eastern Region.

“We had a feeling that the landowners will one day wake up and say the project is on our land so we will not allow any community member to access the project.

“So even though compensation was not part of the original plan, we had to find a way to compensate them to avoid such a situation in future,” he said.

Mr Gbolo further told the committee that they had also deployed a SAGE accounting software which has been approved by the Auditor-General to ensure that they kept track of all funds they were investing in projects they were undertaking.

The Secretary-General, who spoke to the Daily Graphic in an interview after the committee sitting, said since assuming office some two years ago, he had set up a three-member committee chaired by the internal auditor, giving them “the right to look at our transactions at any time”.

In addition to this, Mr Gbolo said the GRCS had also signed onto the integrity line of the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC).

As such, he said any malfeasance identified in any part of the country could be reported to Geneva for follow-up investigations to be conducted.