Use financial management information system platform for transactions - Greater Accra Regional Minister to MMDAs

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has directed metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) in the region to ensure that their financial transactions are processed on the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform.

“This will avoid the rate of infractions raised in the Auditor-General’s report annually and also improve financial management system of the assemblies,” he said.

The minister further reminded them that the use of GIFMIS for processing of public funds was a legal requirement under section 25(6) of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act and, therefore, failure to comply with the provision would attract sanctions as stipulated in section 98(1) of the Act.

He gave the directive at a regional budget hearing for the 29 MMDAs in Accra yesterday.

The event was in accordance with Regulation 17(3) of the PFM Regulations, 2019, Legislative Instrument (LI) 2378.

It aimed at deepening participatory budgeting and accountability at the local level.

The hearing is being organised on zonal basis across the region.

In view if this, 10 zones have been constituted where a maximum of three assemblies per zone will converge on a host assembly and present their budget under the guidance of a national technical working team and the Regional Coordinating Council. 

As part of the mandate of the RCC, the minister said that the Regional Planning Co-ordinating Unit carried out a monitoring exercise to assess the extent to which the sub-structures of the assemblies were functional and delivering their mandate as outlined in the LI 1967.

He said findings from the exercise showed that most sub-structures were operating partially and were also encountering challenges such as inadequate office space, staffing, logistics and funding, among others.

Mr Quartey entreated the MMDCEs to ensure the functionality of the sub-structures within their jurisdictions.

He said the annual action plan of the sub-structures must form the basis for the preparation of their annual budget to be incorporated in the composite budget of the assembly.

The minister also said that revenue ceded to the sub-structures should be reviewed to boost their financial strength and enable them to perform their functions accordingly.

“Adequate staff, together with basic logistics, should also be made available to create a conducive working environment at the sub-structure level,” he added. 

Legal requirement

The Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, also said that the use of the GIFMIS was a legal requirement.

He, therefore, said it was incumbent upon MMDCEs to ensure that all budgetary and financial transactions were carried out through the system to streamline reporting and also enable prompt decision-making.

Dr Osae added that compliance with GIFMIS was instrumental in eliminating audit irregularities.