Tema, June 9, GNA-Mr Joseph Cudjoe, Minister of Public Enterprises has said that the usual practice of state enterprises running back to the government for reimbursement after running down the state resources invested in them must be a thing of the past.
The sector Ministry with the support of the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) has put in place structures to ensure that state-owned organizations become profitable
Good corporate governance practices where the chain of command plays its role effectively, tightening the performance contract regime by ensuring that the signed targets are met in the contract are among some of the structures put in place to enhance the work of the public sector.
Mr Cudjoe in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said establishing a league table for state enterprises to rank their performances was also one of the proactive measures being adopted to make the public sector efficient
He said that the government of Ghana could not continue to be burdened by the state enterprises after the heavy investment of taxpayers’ money in their operations when they were expected to yield profit or surplus to support the country’s budget.
“President Akufo-Addo set up the Ministry of Public Enterprises to ensure profitability, efficiency and sustainability in the state enterprises.”
Mr Cudjoe said that state enterprises must be managed in a manner that ensures good corporate governance practices as done in a lot of private enterprises.
He pointed out that President Akufo-Addo intends to break that cycle where state enterprises had emerged and collapsed without anybody raising an eyebrow about how state resources had been wasted.
“…it has been a trend that a public enterprise would be resourced, with what we called taxpayers money, they operate and generate revenue, incur the cost and then no profit is reported. When they had run down the state enterprise, all you will see is the workers in the red band, calling for another round of investment of taxpayers’ money,” he lamented
Mr Cudjoe who is also the Member of Parliament for Effia Constituency said that when state enterprises are well managed they will be able to contribute to the country’s budget, and the government would then focus on delivering public goods and services and provide the needed infrastructure, rather than becoming a burden to the state.
“The expectation is that when the enterprises are well managed, they would grow, generate employment and also provide the job opportunities for the youth, he said.
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