KWANIA– Leaders in Kwania district have welcomed the installation of Integrated Financial Management System [ IFMS ] with the hope of improving service delivery in the district.
The IFMS is an automated budgeting and accounting system used by government entities to initiate, spend and monitor their budgets, process payments, manage and report on their financial activities.
IFMS is part of the broader Public Finance Management [PFM] programme initiated to ensure effective financial management, accountability for public resources and assets, management, and reporting on accounts of government among other objectives.
Some of the Kwania district leaders who spoke to the Cooperator on Tuesday said the introduction of the IFMS will promote efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, transparency, and comprehensive financial reporting to improve on service delivery in the district.
Johnson Ojok Ocen, Kwania district production coordinator said IFMS has come at the right time, ”IFMS has come at the right time when salaries are delaying. I believe with the installation of IFMS things will be okay. You know in this 21st Century, it is technology dictating,” he said.
Geoffrey Alex Ogwal Adyebo, Kwania district LCV chairman said the installation of IFMS will not only ease budget processes but also reduce cases of financial mismanagement in the district.
“Right from the onset, Kwania has been marked among the leading districts with high corruption cases in the country. A number of monies sent from the centre are not accounted for. I strongly believe the introduction of of this system [IFMS] will make it hard for district officials to steal government monies,” he told this reporter during a short interview.
Opollot Bernard Apollo, Kwania chief administrative officer said the new technology will streamline their work and improve service delivery.
Dickens Otim, the accounting general in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development said, “The IFMS will definitely bring more discipline into the financial management processes, fight corruption and promote good governance.”
About 15 computes, 18 solar panels were installed to run the new IFMS.
However, a recent study on the effectiveness of the IFMS undertaken by the Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit [MFPED] indicates that the expected outcomes of the system have not been fully achieved because of the de-incentivised human resource.
The report indicates that many institutions were using systems that were not interfacing with the IFMS and in instances of uploading information to the system, the human element determined the pace and reliability of operation.
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