Minister for Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe
Minister for Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe, has charged the various Chief Executives Officers (CEOs) and Managing Directors (MDs) of state institutions to ensure their organisations are efficient and profitable because they are shareholders.
He explained that the state has an interest in the organizations they have been appointed to man and since they are citizens of the state, they are automatically shareholders of these entities, hence it dawns on them to make sure they are successful and profitable.
“SOEs can move from accumulating debts and depending on government to inject more capital in the running of them, only if workers and management alike see themselves as part of the owners of the Institutions they work in,” the Minister observed.
According to him, it is only a successful and profitable state institution that can support government’s budget for developmental purposes.
Mr Cudjoe made those statements in Accra last Tuesday when his ministry, in collaboration with the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), held a stakeholder consultative workshop on the development of the Draft Code for Corporate Governance.
The event, which was supported by Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), Expertise France and the World Bank, sought to solicit inputs and recommendations into a draft code of corporate governance which has been put together by SIGA as part of its mandate.
The development of the Code of Corporate Governance is to guide and promote sound corporate governance practices of state entities of which the lack of it is partly to be blamed for the inefficiencies in the public sector.
Mr Cudjoe, who is also a Member of Parliament for Effia, said when SOEs are not performing, the dire impact was that they are unable to expand to deliver employment to curb the soaring unemployment rate in the country.
He explained that when they do not expand, they are unable to grow to create wealth, thereby not supporting the national development agenda.
“So this tool, we all have interest in it to make sure that it becomes powerful,” Mr Cudjoe added.
The Minister indicated that it is President Nana Akufo-Addo’s vision to ride on the back of the performance of state enterprises to deliver on his mandate.
“About half of the country’s assets are in the hands of the state, with the other half in the hands of the private sector, so if the private sector has been able to do what it is doing well, the state can also succeed. When both of them are doing well, it will help boost the economy and reduce unemployment,” he added.
For his part, the Director-General of SIGA, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, pointed out that the workshop has become necessary, giving the feedback that SIGA had with the 70 specified entities from the negotiations that emerged from the performance contract agreement signing ceremony held in July.
Mr Asamoah Boateng maintained that there is a need to instil discipline, compliance and accountability in the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) and State Entities, hence, the meeting to advance and improve on one of the key performance enhancing initiatives.