NDPC to Organise National Devt Fora

The National Planning Development Commission (NDPC) has planned to hold series of national development fora.

It would aim at soliciting views, ideas, suggestions and proposals from experts on all sectors of national development, to serve as blue print for the transformation of the country.

Participants of the fora will include but not limited to economic and financial experts, industry heads, the academia, medical doctors, accountants, media personnel, agriculturists, teachers, medical practitioners, environmentalists.

The executive, judiciary and the legislative arms of government, chiefs and other traditional rulers, the security personnel and the private sector would also take part in the event.

Professor Stephen Adei, Chairman of the NDPC, made the disclosure during a courtesy call on the Controller and Accountant General, Mr Eugene Asante Ofosuhene, in Accra, to discuss the financial architecture of the country and means of enhancing the protection of the national purse.

He said the fora would seek input of experts in the developmental agenda of the country and solicit their cooperation, understanding for a national consensus on the implementation of agreed policies.

Prof. Adei said the outcome of the fora would be crystalised into a guiding agenda for all governments for the sustainable, uninterrupted and seamless development of the country, irrespective of which party or government that would be in office.

Prof. Adei, who was accompanied by Dr Grace Bediako, the acting Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission, said that the current leadership of the NDPC would turn the commission into a think-tank, which would be the embodiment of socio-economic, political and cultural development of the country.

The NDPC chairman, Mr Ofosuhene, explained that the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD) was a statutory body under the Ministry of Finance with the core function to keep safe custody of state finances, disburse state funds in addition to the payment of salaries of all Government employees.

He said it was the responsibility of the Department under the Public Financial Management Act (PFM Act 221) to prepare accounts of the government every quarter, and to prepare the annual account of the state three months from the end of each year, and employ accountants and finance officers for all Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) throughout the country.

Mr Ofosuhene said there were interventions to enhance the protection of the state purse, including the Ghana Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS), an electronic platform, which ensures transparency in accounting, the Electronic Salary Payment Voucher (E-SPV).

He explained that E-SPV ensures that only living workers on government payroll are paid and paid promptly and the Treasury Single Account under which all Bank Accounts of MMDA's residing in private banks are to be removed to the Central Bank.

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