The Deputy Minister for Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has directed all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to obtain fresh Commitment Authorisations for all expenditure in 2026.
This is because all authorisations granted in 2025 have expired and are no longer valid for this year’s procurement activities.
At a meeting held last Friday on the modalities for commitment authorisation for 2026, Mr Ampem appealed to Chief Directors, Heads of Covered Entities, and Chief Executives of Public Institutions to strictly stay within the approved budgetary bracket.
He also instructed that all future requests should be routed through the relevant Sector Ministers to streamline the approval process.
However, to minimise bureaucratic delays, MDAs have been instructed to submit copies of their applications directly to the Ministry of Finance.
The Deputy Minister further clarified that MDAs with ongoing projects from 2025, where contracts have been awarded but payments are outstanding, must fully disclose these commitments. He added that such commitments will be treated first in the 2026 budget before other disbursements.
He emphasised that the implementation of these measures was necessary to curb unauthorised spending, which forms part of a mandatory framework aimed at restoring budgetary discipline and ensuring debt sustainability under Ghana’s IMF-supported programme.
Deborah Narkie Nartey, ISD
