Dan Botwe
The Internal Audit Agency (IAA) has prepared a mechanism to annually assess, rank and publish the compliance level of public institutions to all aspects of public financial management laws.
The Public Financial Management Compliance League Table (PFMCLT) is to, among other things, inject discipline into public institutions in the management of public funds, improve transparency and ensure value for money in public expenditure.
Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC), Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, and Specified Entities that include State Owned Enterprises (SOE), Joint Venture Companies and corporations converted to companies would be assessed and scored on five key indicators.
These include 15 per cent score for strategic/development planning, 20 per cent for budget preparation and execution, 25 per cent for procurement and contracting, 10 per cent for accounting and reporting and 40 per cent for internal and external auditing.
Mr. Dan Botwe, Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, who launched the league table, emphasised the need for urgency in unravelling malfeasance and discrepancies in real-time within the public sector and taking corrective actions.
This, he said, the move was crucial in building public confidence and trust towards committing more financial resources to the government through the introduction of new levies and taxes.
“When the people entrust their faith in us – the bureaucrats, they think that after going to school and getting all the degrees and calling ourselves experts and consultants, these are the things that we should be able to fix,” he said.
IAA Director-General, Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, indicated that the PFMCLT was necessitated to curb the growing level of irregularities, especially among SOEs.
“If you fail, we are going to advise the Ministry of Finance and the appropriate institutions to apply the required sanctions. If you are a coordinating director, the chief director of a ministry and you have failed in complying with PFM laws, you have no business sitting on that seat,” he said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri