JICA Supports Ministry Of Food And Agriculture With Financial Management Improvement Project

Accra. 17^th October, 2016. The Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) meeting to assess and discuss the sustenance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA’s ‘Financial Management Improvement Project’ being implemented at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has taken place in Accra.

Since 2010, JICA has been supporting the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to enhance its fixed asset management system being the first Ministry to deploy the Ghana Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS) on a pilot basis. The main objective of the ‘Financial Management Improvement Project’ is to help safeguard and ensure the efficient use of government resources and assets at the Ministry.

According to Ing. Joseph Boamah, Chief Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, who also doubles as the Project Director, ‘The Project has helped regularize some of financial management practices at the Ministry and introduced a lot of efficiency. We are grateful to the Japanese Government and to our Government for the support rendered to MoFA. We have been empowered as pioneers and are willing to share our success story with other Ministries and government agencies.’

The JCC meeting also deliberated on how other Ministries and government agencies could adopt and replicate some of the good practices achieved under the Project. Through the Project, the Accounting Guidebook of MoFA was developed to standardize the procedures of accounting and asset management, in line with the Public Financial Management reforms of the Government of Ghana.

Mr Norihito Yonebayashi, A Senior Representative at JICA commended the Ministry for its exemplary commitment to the Project and encouraged other government agencies to emulate the good practices exhibited by the Ministry. He noted that the Japanese Government is always willing to assist Ghana achieve its developmental goals.

Although the Project is ending this month, it is expected that MoFA’s good practices will be rolled out by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to be replicated by other government agencies so as to improve asset management cycle utilizing GIFMIS and to ensure the accountability and transparency in the efficient use and the safeguarding of government assets.