CENTRAL Government is putting focus on the development of a standardised system for financial management, at the varying municipalities across the country, and this will be the chief focus at the third annual Action Roundtable for Municipal Financial Management which opened on Monday, at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.

The event is being attended by mayors, deputy mayors, town clerks, finance committee chairpersons, treasurers and other financial personnel from the 10 municipalities across Guyana. This year, the two-day Roundtable is being held under the theme “Improving Financial Management Systems for Municipal Development”.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, noted that the issue of procurement and financial management is addressed too broadly in Chapter 28:01, which governs municipalities in Guyana, creating a situation that lacks uniformity and proper guidelines at the different municipalities. “What has developed is that each council has its own customs and conventions in treating with various issues relating to financial management. This ad hoc state of affairs cannot continue,” Bulkan informed.

“There is currently no concrete or uniformed system in place. We hope therefore to devise a standard system that will be applicable and binding on all municipalities through the gathering of feedback from each of you and select the best practices. Each local organ… must have basic budgeting, accounting, reporting and procurement functions in place.”
Facing constraints in financial resources, financial management is an area that municipalities have continued to struggle with over the years. The Georgetown municipality in particular is inundated in debt while questions continue to abound over the municipality’s previous administration’s management of the money they did have.

Proper procurement procedures, or lack thereof, is one sore point that has plagued the City for some time. It was earlier this year that Head of the Regional Department at the Ministry of Communities (MoC), Bramahnand Singh, had noted that establishment of district tender boards was an initiative that was being lobbied for. This board would administer procurement at the municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) across the country.

The district tender boards would be a sub-level under the National Tender and Procurement Administration Board directed by the Procurement Act 2003 which governs the procurement of goods and services when government spending is involved.

Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and municipalities across the country receive hundreds of millions of dollars from central government each year, in direct subvention, as well as spending for other individual projects.

Guyana already has the Ministerial and Regional Tender Boards; currently procurement for the NDCs are done at the Regional Board. However, procurement at the municipalities are handled internally by the respective town clerks, in conjunction with finance committees.
However, over the years, this system has been breached and unilateral procurement at municipalities has been witnessed. “Financial Management is a most vulnerable point or weakness of the local government renewal process that must be comprehensively addressed,” Bulkan said.

“Prudent financial management transcends the collection and expenditure of money and refers to strategic planning and budgeting, assets management, reporting, preparation and submission of annual financial statements. Financial management is one of the most important responsibilities of administrators.”

Bulkan reiterated the government’s commitment to rehabilitating and restoring the system of local government, which was brought back to the fore, in Guyana, in 2016, after an ‘absence’ of over two decades. “This administration is serious about this agenda of the participation and empowerment of people and the right of citizens to elect leaders from within their communities who have legal authority to manage the affairs of their effective communities. A right that was unreasonably denied for the longest time,” Bulkan noted.
“I do not believe it would be unfair of me to say an engagement of this nature would not have been considered either important or even possible a few years ago for so far removed was the concept of local democracy in the era that preceded this administration.”

Also making remarks at the opening ceremony of the event was Ministry of Finance Finance Secretary, Michael Joseph, who told those gathered that proper financial management by public officials rests on the pillars of efficiency, effectiveness, economy and ethics. He further spoke on measures that could be taken to ensure better money management at the municipalities.

“Carefully consider the use of public resources. Set up performance measurements against which goals can be tracked; avoid untimely and unnecessary expenses; regular reviews are required to ensure that the actual expenditure is in line with the approved amounts. Reviews are necessary to provide one with the opportunity to tweak and avoid mistakes during the planning stage of the budget,” Joseph said.

The event saw the attendees going through sessions on “Municipal Financial Management System” with Alston Alleyne, “Assessment of Municipal Chart of Accounts” with Mellone Frank, “Municipal Development Plans: Guiding of Council Budget Process”, and “Property Valuation”, among others.