A three-day orientation workshop for technical working group expected to roll out the composite budgeting system for all Municipal and Metropolitan and District Assemblies(MMDAs) for the 2012 financial year, has ended in Dodowa on Wednesday.
The composite budget would afford the MMDAs the opportunity to obtain knowledge on the Assemblies financial resources envelop, integrate the resources of the various funding sources and integrate the MMDAs budget into the national budgeting system.
It would provide budget allocations towards social and economic infrastructure and service of assemblies.
The budget of the transferred staff and department were to be integrated into the MMDAs budget to form the composite budget system.
Mr Kwadwo Awu-Peasah, Chief Economics Officer of Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, said the focus of the workshop was on the decentralisation policy as stated in the 1992 Constitution, Act 462 1993, Act 656 2003 and legislative instrument 1961.
“The road map for administrative decentralisation and proposed steps towards a full improvement of the composite budgeting were also discussed,”he said.
He noted, that members have also been taken through the process of determining resources envelop, sectoral and district planning, the budget processes as well as the existing and proposed budget classification and chart of account.
Mr Awu-Peasah said: “…participants have had the opportunity to listen to the accounting, reporting and auditing strategies that exist and those envisaged for the composite budgeting system,”.
He said after the transfers, the next critical stage was to ensure that budget of the decentralised departments were transferred and integrated into the assembly’s budgets.
He said the workshop was one of the many planned activity to enhance the knowledge and skills in the composite budget process for the 2012 budget preparations.
Mr Awua-Peasah announced that regional technical working group was to be formed to provide training and technical backstop support to the MMDAs and also to facilitate regional budget hearing.
He said manuals and guidelines were updated to ensure that MMDAs composite budget was linked to the national financial statement process, adding that the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and the Audit Service have also developed various manuals to support the process.
Mr Awua-Peasah asked the Assemblies to improve on their internally generated funds and commit adequate financial resources to build the capacity at the local level.
Mr Paul Victor Obeng, Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, said the decentralisation process was to develop appropriate mechanisms to ensure accountability in the local government system.
He said the process was to make government resources or the national cake closer to the people and ensure that the right resources were given to communities.
Mr Obeng commended the technical team for working expeditiously and expressed the hope that the various concerns raised at the event would be
considered.