- Ato Forson Orders MMDCEs to Recover Public Funds as DACF Releases Reach Third Quarter
Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson has directed regional and local government authorities to recover misapplied public funds, close financial loopholes and strengthen internal controls as the government increases transfers to district assemblies.
Speaking in Tamale at an engagement on the 2025 Auditor-General’s Report, Dr Forson said Ghana’s limited fiscal resources could no longer be lost through weak financial controls, procurement failures or the failure of public officials to act on audit findings.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Ghana does not have the luxury of wasting public resources. Every cedi already has a job waiting for it,” he said.
The meeting, held under the theme “Recovering Every Cedi”, brought together regional ministers, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives and coordinating directors.
It was intended to move public-sector accountability beyond the publication of audit findings towards the recovery of funds and prevention of repeated irregularities.
Dr Forson said public money should translate into visible improvements in communities.
“Every cedi has a job waiting for it. It can buy medicine, repair a classroom, desilt a drain, improve a market or maintain a feeder road,” he said.
The warning coincides with the release of the third-quarter allocation of the District Assemblies Common Fund, bringing government disbursements to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies up to date for the first three quarters of 2026.
The timely releases give assemblies greater financial certainty but also increase the responsibility on local officials to demonstrate that additional funding is being converted into functioning infrastructure and improved public services.
Local authorities have frequently attributed delayed projects and weak service delivery to unpredictable transfers from central government.
Late releases can interrupt procurement plans, increase project costs and leave contractors unpaid. They can also encourage assemblies to accumulate arrears or initiate projects without certainty about when funds will arrive.
The release of three quarterly allocations therefore addresses an important weakness in local government financing.
Predictability allows assemblies to schedule projects, negotiate contracts more effectively and match expenditure to approved development plans.
It also weakens one of the recurring explanations for poor execution.
When funds arrive late, assemblies can argue that projects stalled because financing was unavailable. When transfers are regular and predictable, the focus moves towards procurement quality, implementation speed and the integrity of expenditure.
The government is consequently creating a two-sided fiscal bargain: central government must release funds on schedule, while district authorities must account for those resources and deliver measurable results.
The Finance Minister’s emphasis on recovery is significant because Ghana’s accountability system has often been stronger at identifying financial irregularities than at retrieving the money involved.
The Auditor-General regularly reports unsupported payments, uncollected revenue, procurement breaches, contract irregularities, payroll problems and indebtedness across public institutions.
Yet the publication of an irregularity does not automatically restore funds to the state.
Recovery may require surcharge action, administrative sanctions, civil proceedings, criminal investigations or improved revenue collection. Each route depends on institutions and officials following through after the audit has been completed.
Dr Forson urged regional ministers, MMDCEs and coordinating directors to treat audit findings as instructions for corrective action rather than paperwork to be acknowledged and filed.
“Recovering Every Cedi cannot remain just a slogan,” he said, insisting that officials must collect what is due, protect what has been collected, spend only approved amounts and account for expenditure.
The distinction matters. Audit compliance can become procedural if institutions merely respond to queries without correcting the weaknesses that produced them.
A credible recovery programme should identify the amount outstanding, the person or entity responsible, the legal or administrative action required and a deadline for completion.
Without those elements, “recovering every cedi” risks becoming another annual theme rather than an enforceable public-finance discipline.
Financial irregularities are often discussed as accounting problems, but their greatest cost is the public service that is not delivered.
An inflated contract means fewer classrooms, drains, health facilities or roads can be financed from the same allocation. An abandoned project ties up capital without providing any public benefit. Uncollected revenue reduces an assembly’s capacity to fund local priorities.
The cost is especially high at the district level because assemblies are responsible for services that directly affect everyday economic life.
Poor sanitation increases health risks. Damaged feeder roads raise the cost of moving agricultural products. Inadequate markets restrict commercial activity, while neglected drainage exposes communities to flooding.
Recovering lost funds and preventing waste should therefore be understood as development policy rather than an exercise limited to accountants and auditors.
The fiscal implications are also substantial. If government can obtain better outcomes from existing allocations, it reduces pressure for additional borrowing or taxation.
Improved expenditure efficiency is particularly important as Ghana attempts to consolidate its public finances while meeting demands for infrastructure, social protection and job creation.
Recovery addresses money that has already been lost or misapplied. Strong internal controls are needed to prevent the same irregularities from recurring.
For district assemblies, that requires credible procurement planning, separation of financial responsibilities, verification of completed work, timely bank reconciliation and effective internal audit functions.
Assemblies must also improve contract supervision. Paying for projects without independently confirming progress creates opportunities for overstatement, poor-quality work and abandonment.
Digital procurement, electronic payment records and publicly accessible project information could strengthen transparency, but technology alone will not resolve the problem if officials can bypass controls without consequences.
Accountability therefore requires both systems and sanctions.
Officials responsible for financial irregularities must face consequences proportionate to the breach, while those who identify problems should be protected from retaliation.
Regional ministers and MMDCEs also have political and administrative responsibilities. They cannot treat financial management as the exclusive concern of coordinating directors, finance officers or internal auditors.
Leadership determines whether audit recommendations are enforced, ignored or postponed.
Stronger spending discipline should not be confused with administrative paralysis.
If every decision requires excessive layers of approval, assemblies may be unable to respond to emergencies or implement projects within the financial year. Delays can themselves create waste by increasing contract costs and leaving allocated funds unused.
The objective should be timely expenditure supported by clear rules, transparent procurement and verifiable results.
The Finance Ministry must consequently balance tougher controls with operational flexibility. Assemblies require predictable transfers and enough authority to implement approved plans, but that authority must be accompanied by reporting obligations and independent scrutiny.
Performance should be assessed through more than expenditure rates. Spending 100 per cent of an allocation does not demonstrate value if the resulting road, market or drainage system is defective.
The relevant question is what public benefit each cedi produced.
Dr Forson’s warning represents an attempt to connect Ghana’s fiscal consolidation programme with expenditure quality at the local level.
The government can improve macroeconomic indicators and release more money to assemblies, but citizens will judge fiscal policy by the condition of schools, clinics, roads, markets, water systems and drains in their communities.
Timely Common Fund releases create an opportunity for district authorities to plan and deliver more effectively. They also remove part of the justification for stalled projects and weak execution.
The test will be whether the government publishes recovery results, identifies repeated audit offenders and demonstrates that financial irregularities attract real consequences.
Ghana does not merely need another catalogue of lost funds in the next Auditor-General’s Report.
It needs evidence that previous losses were recovered, the officials responsible were held accountable and the weaknesses that allowed the irregularities were closed.
Only then will “every cedi has a job” move from a compelling phrase to a measurable standard for public financial management.
