GIFMIS to be implemented in all MMDAs by March 2018
The Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) will be implemented in 156 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) across the country latest by March, 2018, the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced.
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He said the government was interested in implementing the financial management policy because it would help to clamp down on corrupt practices in the public sector and plug revenue leakages in MMDAs.
“The government is committed to cracking down on financial malpractices and wasteful public spending, hence the priority on achieving the target set out in the Public Financial Management (PFM) strategy.
“The strategy recognises that achieving overall improvement in financial management requires a combination of the right policy changes, political commitment to reforms, design and implementation of the appropriate systems and tools to enable better outcomes from the new policy orientation of the government,” he stressed.
Mr Ofori-Atta added that the GIFMIS was meant to replace all stand-alone legacy financial management systems at the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and MMDAs, to ensure prudent financial management.
Forum
Mr Ofori-Atta stated this in a speech read on his behalf by a Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, at a stakeholders’ forum held in Accra on the processes to efficiently roll out the policy in the MMDAs.
A section of the participants
Participants in the national forum were drawn from the Ministry of Finance, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD), the Local Government Service (LGS), as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and other technocrats from the MMDAs.
The process for implementing the GIFMIS started in 2012 with the headquarters of all MDAs thriving on the Consolidated Fund resources currently using it for processing their financial transactions.
About 60 MMDAs have already been migrated to the GIFMIS platform so when it is successfully implemented in the 156 others, it will bring the number to 216, covering all local assemblies in the country.
The forum was, therefore, a platform to discuss the road map and major activities that would ensure the efficient implementation of the policy.
Mr Ofori-Atta said there was the need to review the progress of work in the 60 MMDAs to draw useful lessons that would address the administrative, operational and technical challenges with the GIFMIS policy.
Financial discipline
When he took his turn at the forum, the Controller and Accountant General, Mr Eugene Fosuhene, said the GIFMIS remained the biggest initiative by the government which would help to promote financial discipline and root out corruption in MDAs.
“There has been a clarion call in all developing countries, including Ghana, to wage a war against corruption, especially in the public sector. I dare say that the strict adherence to the tenets of GIFMIS will lead to the elimination of corruption in the MDAs and MMDAs in the country,” he said.
He stressed that the cases of financial malfeasance and corrupt practices that had been cited in the Auditor-General’s report and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, meant that all was not well with financial management in the MMDAs.
Challenges
The head of the LGS, Dr Nana Ato Arthur, underscored the need for MMDAs to realign their operations to imbibe the GIFMIS policy.
He cited the lack of effective cooperation by some officers, delays in getting information required for the setups of the GIFMIS, as well as delays in submitting a backlog of transactions for 2016, as some of the key issues that ought to be addressed for the efficient operation of the policy.