By Leonard Masauli
Lilongwe, March 20, Mana: Minister of Finance Sosten Gwengwe has said the new Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS) supported by the Germany government will help in the management of finances at the accountant general by among others reducing issues of corruption.
Gwengwe made the remarks on Monday during inauguration of the IFMIS Training Laboratories at the Regional Treasury Cashier in Lilongwe.
He said the Training Labs under the IFMIS, will ensure more accountants are trained which will in turn help each and every personnel on how to manage the system to reduce issues of corruption in the end.
“We must thank the Germany government for the support of the IFMIS Laboratories because the new IFMIS needs people that are properly trained to manage the processes of payment for all the Management Development Agencies (MDAs) because we had a challenge of trained personnel to manage the new system.
“In 2021 we had a serious challenge in the process of payment at Accountant General and that problem has been dealt with and thanks to Germany government for the support to train our Accountants. The handover of the Laboratories today, is a great mile to ease such trainings,” said Gwengwe
The Minister said currently, they are targeting to train around 3500 more accountants to build on 1600 who are already trained and the Laboratories will therefore make everything easier.
Gwengwe added to say for the past three years the new system has helped to phase out use of cheques in payment which was prone to fraud and the new IFMIS only allows electronic transfers which he said has assisted to reduce issues of paper-based cheque fraud.
Germany Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr Barbel Kofler, M.P said Germany government is committed to support Malawi as part of its long-standing support to public financial management reform in Malawi.
She said the Germany Government has funded the installation of three IFMIS training laboratories in the Accountant General’s Department with full furniture, computers and network and one laboratory is situated at Regional Treasury Cashiers Office in Blantyre whist two are in Lilongwe.
“The Germany government is committed and understands that good financial Management is the base of any kind of development and it is important to have a stable financial base in the country to ensure there is efficiency in the management of public resources.
“The IFMIS is key to public financial management reforms of the Malawi Government and achievement of Malawi 2063 and it impacts positively on service delivery across all sectors,” said Kofler
Kofler said the Labs will among others facilitate continuous training of public servants and thereby contribute to the sustainable and efficient operation of the new Malawi government IFMIS.
The Accountant General Henry Mphasa commended German government for the support of new IFMIS saying it has helped resolve challenges of financial processes for payments which are now faster and better.
Funding for the labs ‘Strengthening Public Financial & Economic Management in Malawi (PFEM)’ Programme, implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ) and from 2022 to 2025 implementation period, German has helped Malawi with 4.5 million Euros.
For the past 10 years, Germany has assisted Malawi with about 30 million Euros through its technical cooperation.
