WESTERN REGIONAL MINISTER ADVISES CIEF EXECUTIVES (PAGE 30)

Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives have been urged to avoid making expenditure without supporting documentation since the law would not spare any one found culpable.
They have also been urged to recover all staff advances that have locked up public funds that could otherwise be put to use for the public good.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul E. Aidoo, who made the call in Takoradi, said assemblies should spend within their limits and intensify campaigns to generate more revenue to support development projects in their catchment areas.
He said money was the lifeblood of any institution, and that it should be the duty and concern of all who handle public funds to ensure accountability.
Addressing the closing session of a financial management workshop held at Takoradi, the minister said transparency and accountability in handling of public funds in accordance with the rules and regulations governing disbursement would push development faster than expected.
He said the assemblies had several ways of generating income but many of these were not being harnessed to their advantage.
The minister warned them on over-reliance on the Common Fund since it might not be enough to finance their developmet projects.
The minister said as human institutions, assemblies had been bedevilled with unacceptable practices which make it difficult for proper handling of public funds within the regulatory framework.
As a government, “We shall continue to pursue the objectives of accountability and transparency to ensure that, the taxpayer gets his or her money’s worth’’.
He said the workshop should address very pertinent issues that occurred daily at their various assemblies which borders on finance,
“I would therefore request all participants to pay attention so as to know how you could manage resources.
Mr Aidoo requested from the representatives of various assemblies to evaluate their existing budget preparation, revenue generation within the context of issues under discussion so as to improve their performance.
“I would like the representatives of the decentralised departments to pay attention to record keeping and reporting that would make the eventual national financial reporting mechanisms and outputs sound and reliable,” he said.
With the oil find, the minister said, the region was set to receive inflows, which required efficient and effective reporting on income and expenditure.
Mr Aidoo said it was important that the country’s public financial management process was made possible to ensure public confidence.
With that,the minister said people would be more willing to contribute since they would be convinced by good, transparent, and efficient public financial administration.
He urge the finance officers to avoid overdrawing public institution accounts that result in rejection of cheques, thereby creating the impression that the government did not have funds to pay for services provided by the businessmen.
“You should also avoid irregular and delayed banking of revenue collected as well as recover staff advances that lock up funds that could otherwise be used within various institutions,” he said.