The Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) is being linked to public sector procurement procedures by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
The Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS), an electronic procurement platform designed to automate procurement in the public sector, would be used to accomplish this.
Mr. Hayford Amoh, a Senior Technical Advisor and Director of Internal Audit at the Ministry of Finance, said, "This will assure commitment control such that no one, no organization would be able to commit to any type of procurement without money."
At the recent inauguration of the Public Financial Management Compliance League Table (PFMCLT), Ken Ofori-Atta, who was representing Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, stated that the primary fiscal problem confronting public institutions is very serious.
He stated that the Ministry will ensure value for money on all government projects, particularly those that were procured under sole source contracts.
"Rather than identifying corruption or any other kind of spending malfeasance through the Auditor General's audit," he stated, "the Ministry wishes to go all out to fund internal auditors to ensure the prevention of corruption or any other form of expenditure malfeasance."
Mr. Amoh told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in a separate interview that the date for total integration has been pushed back from the end of the first quarter to the end of the second quarter, or June this year.
Because budgeting and payments are handled through the GIFMIS, public institutions will be forced to utilize only the e-procurement platform once the project is completed, he added.
According to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), 76% of the 430 businesses that were enrolled in the electronic procurement system in 2019 do not utilize it.
The e-procurement system was constructed using World Bank money as part of the Ministry of Communication's e-transform initiative.