Bawumia launches e-Travel card for cashless travel allawa for public officials

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the e-Travel Card to facilitate the cashless disbursement of travel allowance and other payments for local and foreign trips of public officials.

Dr Bawumia speaking at the launch in Accra on Friday, 4 February 2022 said since independence, public officials are provided cash for their imprest when they travel. This system, he noted, has many associated problems including the risks of carrying cash, fraud in the disbursement of imprest, the increasing use of cashless payment channels in many jurisdictions, ineffective monitoring and controls, and many more.

With the launch of the e-Travel card, he said that era has come to an end.

All officials will be issued with the e-Travel card and their imprest and per diem for travel will automatically be put on the card for use.

The e-Travel Card is expected to deliver several benefits, including the elimination of the risk of carrying cash; transparency and ease of accountability; timely retirement of accountable Imprest; and improved monitoring and controls of budgetary allocations for official travels to avoid overspending.

“The era of cash for travel in the public sector will soon be over, bringing further transparency and accountability in the use of public funds,” he added.