The Minister for Public Enterprises Hon. Joseph Cudjoe has announced the Government’s intention to dispose of some 17 defunct State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
According to the Minister, the Government is paying a fortune to watch over them while they rot away, including security guards and other staff.
He made the disclosure yesterday during the Minister’s Press Briefing, a bi-weekly press briefing platform put together by the Ministry of Information to provide updates on the various Ministries.
“The situation of defunct entities whose current state of disrepair was a sad sight to behold it has become imperative to completely dispose of the entities to save resources and salvage for sale what can be saved”, Hon. Cudjoe said.
The Minister indicated that the other portfolio management strategies included liquidation, listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange and strategic investment.
Restructuring The Public Enterprises Portfolio
Hon. Joseph Cudjoe further indicated that Cabinet is considering a Memorandum to restructure all Public Enterprises in which the Government has an interest.
According to him, the Memorandum seeks to liquidate, list on the Ghana Stock Exchange, look for strategic investment and or dispose of them.
The Minister outlined the efforts the Secretariat is undertaking together with other Government agencies to streamline the portfolio of public enterprises in Ghana.
Portfolio Management, the world over requires consistent overview and analysis of the interest of the Shareholder to ensure efficiency, economy and profitability at all times.
“This approach is no different from what the Government of Ghana is currently doing through the Minister for Public Enterprises and the Minister for Finance”, the Minister explained.
Hon. Cudjoe pointed out that efforts are being taken on active entities in which the Government has a significant stake to make them more functional, efficient and effective and where they cannot be turned around, to dispose of them.
On specific efforts being undertaken to improve the current stock of entities of the state, the Minister outlined measures undertaken which included, building the capacity of Boards and Board Secretaries in corporate governance, and institutionalization of a code of corporate governance for implementation across all the specified entities.
The rest included; the Implementation of the annual stakeholder series, the Implementation of the annual performance contracts and the Implementation of the Public Enterprises League Table.
The Minister mentioned that the activities are expected to lead to the improvement of systems and processes for the development of the entities and ensure competition and achievement of targets set for them.
To further consolidate the gains made, the Minister stated that there was a need for further improvement in compliance with the submission of reports, signing of performance contracts, submission of audited accounts and implementation of restructuring and turnaround plans for entities that require them.
Hon. Cudjoe added that there would be an intensification of the engagement with the Parliament of Ghana and digitalisation and revenue leakage risk mitigation.
The Minister reiterated that Specified Entities are a key feature of all countries the world over and are used for the growth and development of sectors of the economy and to drive the development envisaged for such sectors.
Source: MOI (PR Unit)
