Directors of the Local Government Service Secretariat (LGSS) on Wednesday 21st December, 2016 met with Mr. Charles Komla Hegbor, a consultant contracted by the European Union to carry out an identification mission for potential areas of possible support for Public Financial Management in Ghana. The meeting briefed the EU consultant on the current PFM programme being implemented in the country. PFM consists of processes and procedures to ensure prudent fiscal discipline and effective and efficient use of public resources for delivery of public services. The meeting was chaired by the Chief Director of the LGSS, Mr. Joseph M. Dasanah.
Highlights of the meeting included an overview of the Local Government Capacity Support Project (LGCSP) which supports the PFM activities currently being implemented by the Government of Ghana with financing from the World Bank. The meeting deliberated on achievements, project challenges, lessons learnt and best practices as well as project financial arrangements. According to the EU consultant, available funding under the proposed EU support is about a third of the WB support and it will be prudent to prioritize the five PFM areas considered critical with rippling effect on the other areas. He suggested for an example intervention in the area of Internally Generated Funds to improve revenue mobilization of MMDAs through the use of technology such as Global Positioning System (GPS) to replace manual collection of revenue.
According to Mr. Hegbor, the EU is fully committed to support PFM processes in Ghana from 2018 to 2020. Meetings with some stakeholders including representatives of the Ningo Prampram District Assembly have been organized and a stakeholder’s workshop has been scheduled for 12th January, 2017 as part of the identification mission. Programme formulation is expected to take place in March of 2017.