BABA JAMAL CALLS FOR JUDICIOUS USE OF FUNDS (PAGE 13)

THE Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, has called for prudent measures to ensure the judicious use of public funds.
This was contained in a speech read on his behalf by a Deputy Director of the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council, Mr James Asante Baffoe, at a one-day workshop on public financing and management in Koforidua.
The event, which was organised by the Eastern Regional Office of the Audit Service, was attended by co-ordinating directors, finance officers, district directors and directors of ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) in the Eastern Region.
According to Baba Jamal, the country’s public financing and management systems had been fraught with malfeasance, embezzlement, misappropriation, under and over invoicing, forgery and falsification of documents, and that unless such malpractices were stopped, there was no way the Government could reduce its overreliance on external sources of funding the national budget.
He said it was regrettable that some personnel and accounting records in various offices could not be traced, making those patronising the services in the system to lose confidence in it.
Baba Jamal, who also expressed disgust at irregularities in the management of contracts in the MDAs as a result of which some of the contracts had to be abandoned, said revelations at the Ghana@50 probe should serve as a reminder to public officers to follow laid-down regulations.
“The public financial management system of this country is suffering from financial glaucoma; the system is very deficient and bleak as a result of many challenges, so you should follow laid-down regulations in whatever you do,” Baba Jamal advised the participants.
In his welcoming address, the Eastern Regional Auditor, Mr Philip K. Ofori, said an auditing firm, Messrs Ernst and Young, which carried out audits in selected MDAs as well as the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, came out with a lot of issues, including improper maintenance of official documents and records, and expressed hope that the seminar would fully equip the participants with what to face the challenges.