The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. DR. Mahamudu Bawumia has called for the laws to take their course should incase state-owned enterprises fail to meet deadlines for filing their financial reports.
According to him, the honeymoon is long over and severe sanctions should follow according to the laws of Ghana.
“However, I would like to admit that there are still several non-complying entities when it comes to financial reporting. I would like to also state that relative to timely financial reporting, the honeymoon is long over and severe sanctions will follow from now onwards for those who fail to meet required deadlines as specified in the law”, he stated.
Dr Bawumia believes that It is not right, that entities who have been entrusted with key state assets, declare losses for tax revenue meant for critical services to be diverted to support them.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the Public Enterprises League Awards Night Held At Kempinski Hotel, Gold Coast City- Accra, on Thursday, 30th June 2022, Dr Bawumia admitted that the government has seen improvements that provide hope that the measures being put in place by the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo are beginning to yield results.
“State Entities play an important role in the economy of our country. There is no doubt that they would continue to play critical roles in the economy going forward, and the government will give them all the support to achieve profitable and sustainable operations
The state must generate beneficial economic and social outcomes from its investments in these entities, and the efforts made to improve reporting. The use of digital technology should make reporting much easier and seamless going forward”, he added.
On his part, The Minister For Public Enterprises, Hon. Joseph Cudjoe also stated that The President’s vision solves the problems of the public enterprises is what led to establishing SIGA to represent the government’s interest and oversight of the state enterprises to deliver the results we desire.
“It is the same vision that led to the appointment of a Minister for Public Enterprises for the first time in the history of Ghana, to oversight SIGA and also brings issues relating to public enterprises to the President’s Cabinet and to the Economic Management Team”, he added.
According to him, State Enterprises contribute significantly to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and have a significant presence in the economy hence if they stagnate, the economy will not realize its full growth potential to contribute to job creation.
The PELT, as a tool to engender competition, will rank the performance of entities in respect of their attainment of targets set and agreed upon in the annual performance contract they signed with SIGA.
It is designed to be a technical ranking system on several dimensions ranging from financials, efficiency and productivity, management improvement and innovation.
The PELT is envisaged to promote innovation in the management of public enterprises. It is expected to trigger a derived motivation on the part of the boards and CEOs to want to do better to solve the problems of the public enterprises –high indebtedness, loss-making, inefficiencies, low innovation, lack of research and development.
Story by:Kwaku Stephen
