Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, MP for Ofoase-Ayirebi, is advocating for stricter fiscal discipline in government spending through a new Private Members’ Bill. The bill aims to amend the Public Financial Management Act to ensure that no government ministry, department, or agency (MDA) receives funding unless its development plans are certified by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
According to him, the current law permits MDAs to access funds even when their plans do not align with the national development agenda. “It blocks a hole in the current public financial management architecture,” he explained, noting that MDAs without NDPC-certified plans can still receive money for projects that may not support national priorities.
“You still have ministries, departments, and agencies that have not gone through that certification process,” he added. “It means they are on a forklift of their own… doing things they and their boards think are important, but they may not necessarily be connected to the nation’s medium-term development plan.”
The bill also addresses the way MDAs use Internally Generated Funds (IGF). Many agencies claim these funds are theirs and not subject to national oversight, but Oppong Nkrumah disagrees.
“There are a lot of MDAs who tell you that, oh, it’s our own money. It’s not taxpayers’ money,” he said. “But before you collect that money, the Charges Act has to be passed. So that is public money. Its use must agree with the national development plan.”
Oppong Nkrumah stated that the bill aims to close these loopholes and “help protect the public purse.
