By Bampia James Bundu
The National Assets and Government Properties Commission, has held a day’s engagement with ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) in the development of a National Assets Register for the country.
In his address at the dialogue meeting, the commission’s Chairman, Alhaji Unisa Alim Sesay aka Awoko, described the national assets register as a “compendium of assets and properties held by government in each MDA to show the net assets of the government and also how those assets are used, preserved, disbursed and disposed by MDAs.”
One of the challenges faced by the commission, he said, was “the fact that people don’t seem to respect the rule of law. They misuse government property without due considerations of the fact that government is spending a lot to buy its assets”. He suggested that all government vehicles be marked so as to indicate the MDA that owned them, adding that all government buildings should carry the country’s national flag on a daily basis for easier identification. He said they all should be insured for safety reasons and pleaded with all MDAs to take the assets registration process seriously and ensure that they took stock of all government assets they had in their departments by submitting them to the commission for onward input into the government register. This, he added, would help government know the exact amount of assets it had across the country.
Director of Performance Management and Service Delivery in the office of the Chief of Staff, Abdul Rahman Sowa, noted that proper coordination would enable MDAs to do their jobs effectively. He said that “with coordination we can all achieve our desired goals”, adding that all government officials should have the “propensity to work collaboratively”.
Sowa said this would enable them to not duplicate their work. He commended the assets commission for undertaking such a venture, describing it as “laudable”. Assistant Accountant General at the accountant general’s office, Lanyanga Kaiwa, revealed that 60% of government expenditures went to the procurement of government assets, which he said, was a huge portion of the budget. He said their core responsibility was to compile public accounts and serve as a treasury. He said they also collected all government revenues and paid them into the government consolidated fund.
Kaiwa pointed out that it was important for MDAs to account for government assets so they could be recorded in the national register. He assured the commission of their outmost support in collecting data on government assets.
(C) Politico 08/07/14
