By
Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA
Accra, Jan. 8, GNA –
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Wednesday reaffirmed Government’s
commitment to implement strategic interventions to restore confidence in the
State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to accelerate economic growth.
In this regard, he
said, government facilitated the passage of the State Interest and Governance
Accountability Bill into law, (Act 990) in 2019, to comprehensively deal with
the teething challenges facing state entities.
He said Government’s
economic policy objectives, among others, are to build the most business
friendly economy, create jobs and improve the lives of Ghanaians; therefore the
state entities have a pivotal role to play by developing new culture and
behavioral changes to help achieve the set objectives.
Vice President
Bawumia gave the assurance at the 2020 Performance Contract Signing ceremony of
80 state entities, in Accra, under the auspices of the State Interests and
Governance Authority (SIGA).
President
Akufo-Addo, in June last year, inaugurated the Board of Directors of SIGA,
previously known as the State Enterprise Commission (SEC), charged with the
responsibilities of implementing comprehensive policies and guidelines to help
state entities to become high performers and ensure sound accountability
practices.
The signing ceremony
was held under the theme: “Transforming State Entities to Contribute
Significantly towards Ghana Beyond Aid”, and it brought together Chief
Executive Officers (CEOs) of state-owned enterprises, Ministers of State,
development partners and the diplomatic community.
The contracts were
signed between the Board of Directors and Management of Specified State
Entities on one part, and the Government, represented by SIGA and the
respective Sector Ministries on the other side, in fulfillment of a statutory
provision under the Regulations (196) of the Public Financial Management Act
(L.I 2378).
The contracts
focused on enhancing service delivery and efficiency of 19 different sectors of
the economy including manufacturing, agriculture, housing, trade, energy,
aviation, roads, education, science, labour relations and transportation.
Vice President
Bawumia acknowledged the challenges faced by state-owned enterprises such as
huge legacy debts, low working capital and weak corporate governance structures
and reiterated government’s commitment to take strategic steps to fixing and
restoring confidence in state entities.
However, he said,
with those state enterprises that have proven to be inefficient, government may
decide to either invite private sector participation or put them out for
outright sale.
He noted that state
entities have the potential to grow the economy, accelerate socio-economic
transformation and provide opportunities for jobs and wealth creation and thus,
urged the managers of those institutions to be innovative, in order to achieve
their objectives.
“The continued
presence of the Boards and CEOs of these state entities will be justified by
their performance as rightly stated in the Public Financial Management Act. The
Ghana Beyond Aid is a national transformation agenda and that we want the
mindset and behavioral changes that will make us pursue that vision.
It is this reason
that government is aligning the performance of state entities where her
investment lies with the vision of economic transformation agenda,” Vice
President Bawumia explained.
He was of the
conviction that with the youthful population and entrepreneurial skills coupled
with the numerous natural resource endowments, the country could turn things
around for the better.
Mr Stephen Asamoah
Boateng, the Director-General of SIGA, in his welcome address, announced that
SIGA will publish a performance League Table of CEOs and state entities in the
last week of July, this year and, therefore, entreated all CEOs and SOEs to
pull their weight in order not place bottom of the table.
He said the
Authority would carry out its mandate of monitoring and evaluating the
performances of all SOEs and that those that fall below the required standard
would be sanctioned accordingly.
GNA
