Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, Central Regional Minister has charged Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to strictly adhere to the use of the Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System (GIFMIS) in preparing their budgets.
The computerized system has been introduced by the government to facilitate budget preparation and execution, accounting and financial reporting, cash and assets management, as well as human resource and payroll management.
Therefore, irrespective of the source of revenue, she said all MMDAs must keep to the rules as contained in the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act 2016, to promote transparency and accountability.
The consequences for non-use of GIFMIS were dire and an affront to the government’s determination to advance transparency and fiscal discipline in the public sector, Mrs Assan said at the opening of a two-day Budget Conference for Budget Analysts and Officers in the Central Region.
The maiden Budget Conference was put together by the Budget Analysts Association of Ghana with keynote expositions, panel deliberations and networking sessions.
Aimed at building the capacity of Budget Analysts for knowledge enhancement, networking, and adopting best practice dissemination, it was graced by 163 participants drawn from the 22 MMDAs in the Region.
It focused on program-based budgeting, budget preparation and related challenges, financial data analysis, revenue mobilization strategies, report and minutes writing, and service delivery standards.
Mrs Assan also urged MMDAs to leverage Information Communication Technology to improve revenue mobilization.
Among others, it would improve monitoring and supervision, accountability, probity, and transparency which had been a challenge to mobilizing internally generated funds to drive development.
That will radically lessen the over-reliance on the government for Common Fund often frosted with delays and insufficient to finance development plans.
“Our decentralization process cannot continue with the out-of-date methods of revenue mobilization and maximization of revenue potentials without technology underpinned by relevant strategies.
“It is therefore vital to leverage on the potential of our respective Assemblies to increase IGF hinged on innovation to accelerate development in communities,” Mrs Assan advised.
Mr Kingsly Adjei Boahene, the Regional Coordinating Director pledged to work with all stakeholders to revive Area Councils and other substructures of MMDAs to reaffirm the Assemblies’ commitment to the principles of local governance to deepen decentralization.
He urged staff of MMDAs to be committed and selfless in the discharge of their duties and guided by the rules and regulations governing the local government system in the country.
GNA