He cautioned that one area where government will keep a close eye on would be in the area of procurements to safeguard the public purse and thus urged all to be diligent in their procurement activities.
Furthermore, each government appointee would be held accountable for their stewardship, especially on issues concerning procurements.
“All of you will, at one time or the other, be held accountable for your stewardship of the various institutions that you are in,” the Vice-President cautioned.
He made these comments at the opening of a six-day capacity-building workshop on the Public procurement Act and the Public Financial management Reforms for ministers, heads of agencies and key directors of State institutions in Accra yesterday.
The training programme, organised by the Public Procurement Authority, in collaboration with the Office of the President, was designed to furnish the participants with the requisite body of knowledge on the provisions of the public procurement Act, and the Public Financial Management to help the government head of institutions and government officials deliver effectively on its mandate and to achieve value for money in all procurement activities.
The Vice-President bemoaned a previous phenomenon where about 90 percent of corruption cases recorded were related to public procurements.
He added that governments agenda to building a prosperous economy, very much depends on how effective it manages its financial resources and ensure fiscal discipline.
“Indeed the ultimate realization of the Ghana shared growth and development agenda, the sustainable development goals, our ‘One District, One Factory’ and ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ initiatives are very much hinged on the effective implementation of wider public financial management reforms and the current public procurement regime”.
He emphasised the importance of public procurement in any growing economy as it occupies a large percentage of government business and represents one of the key nerve centers in the process of translating national budget goods and services to meet national development outcomes.
“I charge you all to work with integrity to protect the public purse by guaranteeing value for money in all public transactions and in and exercise prudence and discipline in our fiscal management and deliver the aspirations of the Ghanaian people,” the Vice-President stressed.
He further challenged participants to rise above the rhetoric and focus on the greater performance that would deliver broader national development outcomes for the country.
He, therefore, lauded the public procurement authority for the establishment of the due diligence unit, the procurement Audit Unit and the soon to be rolled out E-government procurement system.
Adwoa Sarfo, Minister of state in charge of Public Procurements,said the previous government’s attempts to achieve a more transparent, corruption-free procurement process was bedeviled with “unjustifiable” sole sourcing procedures, many of which were fraught with corruption.
“By this method [sole sourcing], several contracts were awarded to cronies and families which resulted in dubiously inflated contract cost for the purposes of creating, looting and sharing”.
She, however, assured that the current has resolved to ensure value for money in all its transactions by ensuring strict procurement procedures.
“I must assure you that under the watch of his Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Vice-President, appropriate steps would be taken under our tenure of office to stop this wanton abuse of sole sourcing”, she noted.
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)