MoF phases out handwritten invoices

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In a bid to improve efficiency in its procurement systems and avoid over-expenditure which some government agencies have been accustomed to, Treasury has decided to phase out all handwritten or manual invoices.

This was made known through a public notice on Tuesday, issued by the Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) spokesperson, Tonateni Shidhudhu.

“To all suppliers of goods and services to the Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN), kindly be informed that the GRN has discontinued the issuance of manual (handwritten) purchase orders to suppliers with effect from July 2020,” reads the notice.

Shidhudhu on Wednesday told Nampa: “The ministry has noted that certain commitments are made outside the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) by government institutions by way of manual purchase orders when the allocated funds get depleted leading to unauthorised expenditure and numerous requests to Treasury for reallocating of appropriated funds to unbudgeted items.”

To avoid this, the issuance of manual or handwritten purchase orders is discontinued and as such, those who render services to the government are advised to ensure the purchase order that they get from any government office is not manual or handwritten and should be printed from the system, he said.

“Only the purchase order that is printed from the system will guarantee you payment. If you accept a manual purchase order, you might wait for longer to be paid because the possibility is that there is no money set aside for that specific project,” he cautioned.

The IFMS was designed and adopted by the government to control and account for all government expenditures by allowing commitments to be made directly on the system against the allocated funds.

Source: Namibia Press Agency