Assemblies urged to improve internally generated fund

Mr Kwabena Obese-Jectey, Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), has urged Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) to improve their Internally Generated Fund (IGF) to enable them to fund their own development projects.

He said due to the huge size of the government payroll including other responsibilities, the assemblies could not continue to rely on the Common Fund which often delayed and created problems for them as far as their development needs were concerned. “The Common Fund can become an additional funding when assemblies have generated their own IGF for developments,” he said.

Mr Obese-Jectey was speaking at the induction of the New Juaben Municipal Assembly Audit Report Implementation Committee (ARIC) in Koforidua. According him the assembly’s business was about development and that it was important that it used its resources judiciously and efficiently to undertake development projects.

He said the ARIC was a forum for Internal and External Auditors, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Finance Officers, Coordinating Directors and Chief Executives to streamline financial spending and budgeting to achieve results.

Mr Obese-Jectey said the ARIC had been instituted to ensure effective and transparent financial management at the assemblies and expressed the hope that it functioned well to minimize some serious revelations at the Public Accounts Committee.

Mr Angelo Habib, Director of Internal Audit at the University of Ghana, urged the ARIC members to train the finance team and all who were involved in revenue collection to ensure efficiency and transparency.

He also urged them to be mindful of illegal payments of allowances to people who were not entitled to them and to ensure that development projects were cited at places that would benefit the people to ensure value for money.

The ARIC members inducted were Dr Kwaku Owusu-Acheampong, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Korzie Sambo, Coordinating Director and Mr Boadi Sampong, the Presiding Member, Mr Adu Boafo, an External Auditor and a neutral member to be co-opted by the team.