Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday cautioned government appointees against abuse of government resources, stressing that the Akufo-Addo administration would not tolerate the practice.

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday cautioned government appointees against abuse of government resources, stressing that the Akufo-Addo administration would not tolerate the practice.

He challenged them to rise above the status quo and focus on greater performance that would deliver broader national development outcomes for Ghana.

He was speaking at the opening of a six-day Special Training Programme on the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as Amended and Public Financial Management reforms for ministers and heads of agencies..

The Vice President reminded them of the charge from the president to them to “work with integrity to protect the public purse by guaranteeing value for money in all public transactions and exercise prudence and discipline in our fiscal management and deliver the aspirations of the Ghanaian People. Inefficiencies and waste in government spending will not be tolerated.”

He noted that Ghana had witnessed how aspects of fiscal governance had not been carried out with the expected discipline and dedication for good outcomes.

"We have seen and heard of incidences of abuse of the procurement processes, especially the reliance on the infamous sole sourcing approach," he added.

While acknowledging that sole-sourcing is legal and so can be applied under certain circumstances, the Vice President cautioned that it should not be abused.

He noted that the importance of public procurement in any growing economy cannot be overemphasized, and explained that a large percentage of government business is represented in the process of translating national budgets into goods, works and services to meet national development.

He mentioned that the Public Financial Management Act and the Procurement Act are essential in ensuring that the budget does not go out of track.

“We all know what the importance of fiscal discipline is in the management of our economy. Without fiscal discipline, the budget goes out of track, we have more inflation, more exchange rate depreciation, you have higher interest rate. The cornerstone of fiscal discipline has been really captured in two Acts, the Public Financial Management Act and the Public Procurement Act. These two Acts are very key for us and therefore understanding them and the implementation of them is going to be critical for the ability of this government to maintain and sustain fiscal discipline,” he stated.

According to the Vice President, “the ultimate realisation of the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA II), the Sustainable Development Goals, our ‘One-District-One Factory’ and the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ initiatives are very much hinged on the effective implementation of wider public financial management reforms (PFMR) and the current public procurement regime.”

The Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, commended the Chief Executive of the Public Procurement Authority, Agyenim Boateng Adjei, and Minister of State in Charge of Procurement, Sarah Adwoa Safo, for putting together the event and tasked participants to be cautious in order not to fall foul of the law in the discharge of their duties.