Sixteen delegates from the Ministry of Finance in the Republic of Liberia have commenced six days experience sharing session with regards the roll-out in the implementation of the Integrated Financial Management Information System of the Ministry of Finance, Development and Economic Planning in Sierra Leone.
The visit of the delegates is as a result of the laudable strides Sierra Leone has made so far in the implementation of the Financial Management Information Systems since the end of the war, and enable them take home the experiences, successes and processes involved during their roll-out strategies.
The opening ceremony of the six days study programme was chaired by Ambassador Umaru Wurie, who is also the Development Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Development and Planning and senior officials in attendance.
In his statement, the Head of Delegation, Mr. John B.S. Davies III, who also doubles as the Controller and Accountant-General of the Republic of Liberia, said that Liberia is one of the countries in the West African sub-region that is currently rolling-out the Integrated Financial Management System, and that in the process, there is need for the design of a new accounting system, the adoption of enterprise resource and planning system approach to budget execution which, he said, are all critical initiatives in the implementation of the IFMIS.
He said that Sierra Leone has currently made a tremendous in-road in the implementation drive, including the introduction of commendable reforms in financial management systems and the implementation of the biometrics technology from which Liberia has learnt a lot and equally wishes to carry home the successful results of these development programmes.
Mr. Davies said even though every country has its own geo-political and geo-economic characteristics, there are sets of common principles that underline the implementation of any project whether IT based or socio-economic based, but their task is to ensure that they go through the implementation processes bearing in mind the commonalities of financial management systems devoid of geographical diversities.
He went on to say that the IFMIS implementation should be a must for any post-conflict environment since, according to him , every post-conflict society experiences a broken infrastructure, systems breakdown, migration of the skilled sector of the population to various places, adding that it is necessary to implement programmes that enable structural development, capacity building and economic development.
However, Mr. Davies mentioned that Liberia also has made and is still making appreciable progress in financial management sector commendable for countries striving to achieve economic prosperity. He said that Liberia has one of the most open financial systems as compared to any country; an interesting degree of tolerance with regards society’s right to know the execution of budget systems and so many financial gains any other country would love to imitate in the dispensation of prudent financial management systems.
By Poindexter Sama
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