On the 14th of October, 2021, a Regional Budget Hearing was held at Atebubu Amantin Municipal Assembly Hall, in accordance with Regulation 17(3) of the PFM Regulations. The Regional hearing provided the RCC and the National Technical Team an opportunity to review the MMDA’s revenue and expenditure performance and the targets set for 2022-2025 fiscal year. Critical attention was given to Government Policies and Strategies as well as the 2022-2025 Budget Preparation Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance.
Sene West District Assembly was represented at the MMDA’s Regional Budget Hearing by a team led by the Honorable District Chief Executive, Hon. John K. Nyarba, the District Coordinating Director, Mr. Eric K. Saabome, District Budget Analyst, Mr. Yakubu Andaani, Chiefs from both Wiase and Dwan Traditional Councils, Heads of Department, Assembly and other interest groups.
The draft budget was presented by Mr. Yakubu Andaani, on behalf of the District Chief Executive. He began by briefly explaining the district profile; The district’s performance in terms of Agriculture, Education, Tourism, infrastructure, health, and transportation, among other things.
He went into detail on the district’s financial performance, including revenue and expenditures by departments. As part of the performance, he presented information on some key achievements of the 2021 budget.
He went into detail on the district’s financial performance, including revenue and expenditures by departments. As part of the performance, he presented information on some key achievements of the 2021 budget.
He also highlighted the support to government flagship programmes such as Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), One District One Factory (1D1F), PERD among others. He lamented that as a result of non-release of DACF, the district could not nurse and distribute cashew seedlings to farmers but was hopeful that the number could double in the 2022 crop season.
Out Look for 2022.
The budget analyst discussed the MMDA Adopted Policy Objectives for 2022. He intimated that the 2022 budget will focus on delivering specific objectives in the areas of Agriculture, Education, Health, Water and Sanitation, Social Protection as well as Roads.
He also presented the medium-term revenue projections for 2022-2025. The budget is projecting to mobilise Five Hundred Thousand Ghana cedis (GHS500.000.00) from IGF for the 2022 fiscal year. The Assembly has a total projected budget of Nine Million, Eight Hundred and Eighty-One Thousand, Nine Hundred and One Ghana cedis (GHS9,881,9001) which covers compensation Transfer, Goods and Services Transfer, Assets Transfer, DACF, DDF and other Donor Support. The Assembly is projected to spend same within the 2022 fiscal year.
The budget analyst concluded his presentation while calling on the national team to positively critic the budget for improvement.
Comments and Observations from The Technical Team
The Technical team was a combination of officers from the Ministry of Finance, Local Government Service and the RCC. The team was led and chaired by the Regional Co-ordinating Director (RCD).
In his (RCD) comments, he commended the Assembly for their effort in collecting property rate revenue. He revealed that this year’s performance was an improvement over last year and was hopeful that the good work will continue.
Both the officers from the Ministry of Finance and the Local Government Service commended the budget analyst for sticking to the hearing template and the guideline. However, they advised the district to further work on the policy outcomes as well as ensure that the budget is addressing all the development issues as contained in the strategic over view.