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Municipal staff undergoes training for better financial management
With resolving the financial management challenges of the council at the core the Ministry’s plan for this year, Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, has issued a stern call for prudent supervision of municipal funds.
Speaking directly to personnel involved with the management of the financial resources for the various councils, at the opening of the Ministry’s Action Roundtable workshop for Municipal Financial Management held at Tower Suites, Bulkan noted that Government‘s commitment to the Council ‘s financial system is improved.
The action roundtable meeting targets municipal treasurers, town clerks and finance committee chairmen.
The two-day conference features presentations from President of the Guyana Association of Municipalities, Carwyn Holland, Accountant General, Jennifer Chapman, Chairman of the Local Government Commission, Mortimer Mingo, and Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan.
Other presenters included Ms Carol Corbin from the Public Procurement Commission and Tax Advisory Information from the Guyana Revenue Authority,(GRA).
Bulkan noted that Government will continue to collaborate with other stakeholder to ensure that Councils “get it right.”
Municipal staff will undergo training for better financial management
The Minister stressed, therefore, that the municipalities must endeavour to leave a legacy of transparency and accountability.
“Chairperson of these finance committees must not take their role lightly… I urge that the enthusiasm to the task of building robust financial systems be renewed,” Bulkan said.
“While we discuss the vexing issues of inadequacy of finances the issue of prudent financial accountability is now important… with autonomy comes great responsibility, your duty is to ensure accountability and transparency prevails,” he added.
Last year, the Ministry of Communities announced that support from the Office of the Auditor General (AG) is forthcoming to help make the financial management procedures of local government councils more effective.
Last year, Ministry of Communities, Permanent Secretary Emil McGarrell had appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), based on information revealed in the Auditor General’s 2015 report, relating to financial management of the Georgetown municipality.
Among issues addressed was the outstanding Financial Statements of the municipalities. The Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01 of the laws of Guyana requires all accounts of the Municipal and District Councils to be made up yearly to the end of the financial year by the Treasurer of the council.
These accounts are to be made up no later than four months after the end of the financial year to which they are related, for auditing by the Auditor General soon after.
According to the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01 of the laws of Guyana, Section 176, the responsibility of submitting Financial Statements for the councils lies solely with the Treasurer of the councils.
Despite this legal requirement, a number of councils are in violation. The Georgetown Mayor and City Council for instance has not submitted Financial Statement for 2006-2013 and 2015.
McGarrell had explained that the failure of the council to submit these statements is a problem of poor financial management. He explained that this is a challenge that has several root causes including the financial standing of the councils to employ the necessary skills, needed for effective management.
“If you do an analysis of the officers holding position (of) Treasurer in most of the councils, it will let you know that you need to do more work to attract greater skills,” McGarrell said.
He noted that the issue is further exasperated by the fact that and the councils, not the ministry, has the responsibility for appointing these officers.
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