Public Enterprises Minister Joseph Cudjoe has urged Ghanaians to take an active interest in the performance and profitability of all State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), rather than focusing on just a few.
“There are one hundred and seventy-five (175) Specified Entities including fifty-three (53) State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) owned by the state and being funded with your taxes. Unfortunately, all you hear people talk about is ECG, COCOBOD, TOR and PBC.
These are only four (4) out of the one hundred and seventy-five (175). The number is so insignificant, for anyone interested in accountability,” Joseph Cudjoe emphasized.
He highlighted the importance of proper management of taxpayer funds, stressing that the profitability of SOEs directly impacts the growth of public investment.
“Your taxes should be managed well. Your taxes get invested in State Enterprises; if they report profits, your taxes invested are growing. If they report losses, it’s not a pleasant outcome… So it is imperative to learn about all the State-Owned Enterprises and develop an interest in their operations,” he urged.
Joseph Cudjoe’s charge follows his own revelations that some SOEs have failed to sign performance contracts, despite President Akufo-Addo’s directive for them to do so to promote transparency and accountability.
Right from the start since President Akufo-Addo took over reigns of power, he has actively pursued the objective of making the SOEs compliant, transparent and accountable. The Vice President, Dr Bawumia has also actively pursued the objective of making the SOEs drive their operations with digitalized processes.
Speaking at the Ministry of Information’s Meet-the-Press series, he underscored that signing performance contracts is essential for ensuring transparency and accountability and achieving set targets within these enterprises.
“…So signing performance contracts is for SIGA to monitor your performance, and this is so critical to the government. Those signing, we are able to monitor, we are able to guide, and Parliament is able to oversight, and then transparency is guaranteed. As to what is happening to your taxes, we can then see. If you are not signing, then it means a certain group of Ghanaians, working with your taxes, don’t want to be monitored in terms of performance.”
“And you must question why. What is it that they are hiding?” he asked. The President wants the accounts of every state enterprise to be opened to the public for scrutiny and in addition to profitability and efficiency, that’s why he established SIGA and appointed a Minister for Public Enterprises to oversight SIGA to achieve these objectives.
He encouraged the media and the public to scrutinize those companies that are not signing performance contracts, stressing that their involvement is crucial for ensuring transparency across all one hundred and seventy-five (175) enterprises in which the state has invested our taxes, including the SOEs.
“Your scrutiny and your questions will help in transparency and coverage of all the one hundred and seventy-five, so that our tax revenues will be accounted for in a transparent manner.”
Among the State-Owned Enterprises that have failed to sign performance contracts are the National Youth Authority, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, National Service Secretariat, and National Pensions Regulatory Authority. These are just a few out of the twenty-nine (29) that do not sign performance contracts with SIGA.
