The first ever Public Enterprises League Table (PELT) Awards have been held in Accra with the purpose of stimulating competition among specified public entities.
The event, dubbed “Improving Public Sector Business Outcomes”, brought together chief executive officers and board members from several state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The Director General of the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), an agency under the Ministry of Public Enterprises, Ambassador Edward Boateng, noted that even though public specialized entities manage about 50 percent of the national productive assets, they contribute less than 5 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He stated that although most specified entities grapple with resource constraints, he challenged their leadership to strive to achieve their minimum deliverables, which is the submission of management and audited accounts and attaining 30 percent of their actual targets.
In her remarks, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, highlighted the poor performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as contained in the 2020 SOE Report.
“Aggregate loss in the SOE sector was estimated at over GHC 2 billion, which was attributed to the poor performance of our 22 SOEs. When one considers this within the context of the government’s exposure to the sector in terms of unlent loans, contingent liabilities, government guarantees and other financial support, which stood at approximately GHC 21 billion, then the situation is alarming,” she stated.
She emphasized the role of effective and ethical leadership in ensuring productivity in SOEs, revealing that some local partners have been engaged to train boards and management of SOEs in this direction.
For his part, the Minister for Public Enterprises It is explained that the PELT is a tool which ranks the performance of specified state entities in the areas of finance, efficiency, innovation, productivity, and management improvement.
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who was the special guest and spoke via online conferencing, said that although public enterprises have been grossly underperforming since 2017, the narrative has changed. While acknowledging the timeliness of financial reporting by some SOEs, he hinted at the sanctioning of state entities that do not present audited financial reports. “For those who have followed, particularly the publication of the State ownership report, you will notice that the state of reporting has significantly improved…Relative to timely financial reporting, the honeymoon is now over for those who fail to meet reporting deadlines and severe sanctions will follow for those who fail to meet required deadlines as specified by law,” he stated.
Nominee entities in this year’s PELT awards included: Electricity Company of Ghana, Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, Environmental Protection Agency, and Irrigation Development Authority. The Water Resources Commission, Community Water and Sanitation Agency, TDC Development Company Ltd., and GRIDCO Ghana Ltd. In all, 12 awards were presented to the specified entities under various categories.
TDC Development Company Ltd. emerged as the overall best specified entity for the year under review, 2020.
