By Calvin Quays|LPR News, Monrovia
Liberia’s Comptroller and Accountant General (CAG) Janga A. Kowo and his technical team have ended county treasuries to Grand Bassa, Nimba, Bong and Margibi counties, as part of efforts to inspect the county treasuries for budget execution as the fiscal year 2020/2021 begins.
The team inspected and reconfigured the county treasury system for budget execution for FY-2020/2021 which tour consisted of meetings with county treasury staff, as well as technical need assessments conducted on the status and operations of the treasuries.
Atty. Kowo expressed delight with the inspection tour, stating that challenges identified have been documented for submission to the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel B. Tweah, Jr., for action.
Atty. Kowo emphasized that the county treasury is an extension of the Ministry of Finance payment system, which is a successful model for decentralized budget execution.
He also avowed that there is a need for extension to other counties, currently not part of the county treasury framework.
The inspection and system set-up of the County Treasury is part of the Government of Liberia Decentralization Program in the Pro-poor Agenda (Pillar IV) being executed by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, through the Department of the Comptroller and Accountant General.
The county treasury in its pilot stage is located in four counties, namely: Grand Bassa, Nimba, Bong and Margibi.
The treasury represents the CAG in these counties and is responsible for government disbursement from the consolidated accounts.
He said with this measure, entities in these counties will not have to come to Monrovia to do any fiscal and budgetary transactions.
Meanwhile, over the past year, there have been series of reform activities at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning affecting the Comptroller and Accountant General’s Office.
The Comptroller and Accountant General’s Office, which was a Division within the Department of Fiscal Affairs, has become a Department of its own in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
This reform was done with the passage of the Amended and Restated Public Financial Management (PFM) Act of 2019.
The Comptroller and Accountant General’s Department is responsible for initiating, formulating, and coordinating policy for the efficient management of public funds and assets.
The CAG Department pays, safeguards, and reports on the usage of all public funds on behalf of the government.
The Comptroller and Accountant General heads the Department and reports to Minister Tweah of the Minister of Finance and Development Planning.
The county treasury is an integral component of government’s financial management framework being executed by the Comptroller and Accountant General.
