Chief Executives of public sector organisations and agencies have been urged to develop risk management framework, which clearly provides guidelines to enhance corporate governance in the various institutions.
Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who made the call said such a framework should cut across all divisions and departments in the organisations with the Board of Directors exercising oversight roles to ensure that adequate and effective risk management processes were in place.
He was speaking at the Third Annual Internal Audit Forum organised by the Internal Audit Agency in Accra on the theme: "Risk Management in the Public Sector: The Role of Internal Auditing."
The forum seeks to challenge managements of MDAs and MMDAs to implement appropriate risk management measures, policies and strategies to create the needed risk management culture in the public institutions.
Mr. Mpiani said the introduction and development of strategic plans in public institutions had helped in the management of strategic risks in public service organisations.
However, he said, documentation on risk and its control had been a problem in public sector.
He therefore, called for capacity building in risk management in the institutions.
Mr Joe Issachar, Head of the Civil Service, said while various legislations, regulations and institutional measures existed in the public service to guide in the management of risk, the poor attention to the steps accounted for the dismal performance.
Besides the Civil Service was also unable to recruit and retain a team of qualified people, he said.
Mr Patrick Nomo, Director-General, Internal Audit Agency, said a lot of progress had been made in the practice and status of internal auditing in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies since 2005.
As at the end of August this year, 261 out of 342 MDAs and MMDAs have established and staffed their units compared with 58 three years ago.
While there was no risk-free environment, Mr Nomo said effective management of risk could enhance opportunities for improving services and business practices.
He said many risks could be avoided, reduced or eliminated through effective risk management practice and therefore urged public sector organisations to integrate it into everyday work.