Chief executive officers (CEOs) of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on Tuesday signed performance contracts with the government, with a caution from the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, to the CEOs that the government would hold them to account.
“We intend to hold your feet to the fire and hold you accountable to the contracts you have signed today,” he told them.
“The President is very focused on making sure that there are consequences to face. You cannot just come and fill the forms and say let us move on,” he told the CEOs.
State-owned enterprises
In all, the CEOs of 39 wholly owned SOEs operating in all vital sectors of the economy, such as petroleum, power, housing, water, transport, agriculture, logistics, procurement, finance and infrastructure, converged on the Labadi Beach Hotel to sign their performance contracts for 2017.
They included the CEOs of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and the New Times Corporation (NTC)
Dr Bawumia said SOEs could not continue to operate their businesses as usual, stressing that the government would be more interested in knowing what went on in SOEs, since they were very critical to the economic development of the country.
“We want to know what is happening and we want to know the money that is going into your accounts and leaving and for what purpose. So we are going to be a bit more interested and not going to wait until the end of the year,” he said.
The Vice-President underscored the importance of SOEs, saying that the mismanagement of one SOE could collapse the economy.
Infrastructural programme
He announced that the government planned to roll out a massive integrated infrastructural programme for the development of a modern rail network, housing systems, aviation, ports and harbours, among others.
He said the objective of the government had been to make the country a business friendly environment.
SEC Chairman
The Executive Chairman of the State Enterprises Commission (SEC), Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, said SOEs were critical to the economic growth of the country, recalling that as of the end of 2015, the total labour force employed by 28 of the 39 SOEs was about 32,500, who generated about GH¢16.2 billion in revenue.
He called for the amendment of PNDC Law 170 which established the SEC so that it could reflect the realities of the times and ensure that the enterprises operated more efficiently, effectively and profitably to enable them to generate employment and contribute sustainably towards the socio-economic development of the country.
“In line with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision, the sector is set to undergo transformation that would address the challenges and create the much needed environment for rapid growth,” he hinted.
The new SEC
“The new SEC will be more sensitive to the challenges of SOEs and help remedy them with speed. It will help with the issues of good governance and facilitate the smooth operation of SOEs,” Mr Asamoah-Boateng said.
He said hardworking SOEs would be well recognised, adding that it was in that direction that the 2016 SOEs Excellence Awards would be held on June 25, 2017.
He said the new SEC would be proactive and innovative in building beneficial relationships to bring about continued improvement in all spheres of SOE operations.
It was also coming up with a unified, centralised and digitised performance evaluation framework to effectively track all SOEs, he added.
“The new SEC will also be coming up with a model inter-SOEs trading arrangement that will be backed by law to maximise your operational and financial opportunities,” Mr Asamoah-Boateng told the CEOs.
