You Can’t Award Contracts Without Finance Ministry Approval; Ato Forson to MDAs

Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are now enjoined to seek prior commencement authorisation from the Ministry of Finance before any government contract is issued for any procurement.

The Minister for Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, issued this directive to Chief Directors and senior officials of various MDAs on April 3, 2025, during a meeting.

In a Facebook post, he explained that every contract must now receive commencement authorisation.

“I made it unequivocally clear: You cannot award contracts without the express approval of the Ministry of Finance.”

“No commencement certificate, no procurement,” he emphasized.

He noted that the new measure aligns with the recently amended Public Financial Management Act, of 2025 and is geared towards fiscal discipline, ensuring accountability, and ending the culture of financial recklessness in public administration.

“This is not merely a bureaucratic process—it is a legal requirement…The Ministry of Finance will no longer carry the weight of fiscal indiscipline alone. If you are a principal spending officer and you violate this directive, you will be held personally accountable.”

According to him, any breach of this directive will attract serious consequences and therefore urged all public officials to act with integrity and a deep sense of national duty.

“We are among the privileged few—we must not continue to subject our people to hardship through negligence or abuse of public resources. Restoring trust in public service begins with transparency, responsibility, and discipline in implementing the national budget.”

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini