Justin Kodua Frimpong, Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), has directed that henceforth, all financial transactions of the agency shall be processed through the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) in line with the Public Financial Management Act 2016, Act 921.
He has further cautioned that any staff of the agency who would process any financial transaction without passing it through the GIFMIS platform would be appropriately sanctioned. He said, this measure is to ensure financial discipline at the YEA and also create the fiscal space for new beneficiaries.
Mr. Frimpong made this known when he addressed officers of the agency at a three day training workshop organised by the YEA in conjunction with the GIFMIS Office of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) for some key officers of the YEA in Accra.
The training is aimed at bringing the officers up to speed on how to process transactions on the GIFMIS platform and make payments using the same system.
Mr. Frimpong made it clear to the trainees of YEA that the President Nana Akufo-Addo led government is not bereft of ideas as to how to deal with the issue of corruption in state institutions. He said as a result, all efforts are being made by the board and management of YEA to ensure that the public purse is adequately protected.
The CEO said he is much aware that globally the GIFMIS is accepted as a major tool for fighting against corruption and abuse of office.
He said he is happy that with the GIFMIS in place, the agency would not be able to spend on financial obligations that have not been approved in the budget. He pointed out that the YEA, under the GIFMIS system, would not be able to exceed its budgetary allocation as the system would not allow for budget overrun.
The CEO explained further that payments on the platform would also leave an audit trail for future verification and therefore financial malfeasance on the platform would easily be detected by auditors.
The CEO reiterated that this new measure would create the much needed fiscal space for the Agency to add more beneficiaries to the modules. He therefore tasked the officers of YEA in accounts, procurement and stores to ensure that all transactions are processed through the GIFMIS system.
Finance Director of YEA, Rev. Solomon Otoo, in throwing more light on the use of the GIFMIS, said that the platform provides for segregation of duties and functions of officers which acts as a check on financial malpractices.
He said that the Public Financial Management Act 2016, Act 921 section 25 (6) provides that ” Where a covered entity enters into a contract or any other arrangement that commits or purports to commit Government to make a payment, the contract or arrangement shall be approved by the Principal Spending Officer of that covered entity and the Principal Spending Officer shall enter the contract or arrangement into the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System.
He said that the use of the GIFMIS is not an option but rather mandatory on the part of MDAs as clearly stipulated by the law on Public Financial Management. He explained further that section 98 (b) of the PFM provides for punishment of not less than six months imprisonment if an officer issues a local purchasing order outside the GIFMIS.
He said the GIFMIS has come to stay in YEA and assured the CEO that all effort would be made to ensure the successful implementation of the system. Resource persons from the GIFMIS Secretariat of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department facilitated the training.
It is expected that about a hundred staff of YEA would be trained and activated on the platform by the close of the year 2017.
thebftonline.com l Ghana
