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The State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) has developed, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, a “Code of good corporate governance” for public enterprises.
Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Managing Director of SIGA, said inadequate governance frameworks and procedures were critical contributors to the poor financial performance of many specified entities in Ghana, hence the initiative.
Mr Boateng was speaking at a stakeholder consultation forum on the draft corporate governance code in Accra on Tuesday.
The aim is to strengthen good corporate governance practices in specific entities for national development.
The Director General said the forum should provide a platform for stakeholders to offer comments and contributions to the draft code.
He said state agencies are governed by a complex network of leaders involving parliament, ministries, regulatory committees, boards of directors, and chief executives or directors general, all of whom have varying responsibilities for reports.
“This has blurred the division of responsibilities and accountability for performance, especially between the board and management. In some cases, the appointments of chief executives and boards of directors are based on political considerations rather than merit, which contributes to the ineffectiveness of some boards, ”he noted.
He said, “We can all agree that if we want to make the public smile on the face of it, we cannot run SOEs like we did before. If the specified entities continue to underperform, we will not deserve our positions and our compensation. ”
The CEO said that SIGA was required by section 4 (d) of its law (Law 990) to develop a corporate governance code to serve as a framework for the actions and performance of specified entities.
He said that while SIGA has been the driving force behind this business, “however, we believe that in order to produce a document that will stand the test of time, a quality document that will be owned and accepted by all stakeholders, requires the participation and involvement of all parties, hence the need for this forum.
Mr. Boateng congratulated the Ministry of Public Enterprises and the French Development Agency for funding the consultative workshop.
He implored and encouraged stakeholders to fully participate in the process by providing inputs and comments that would help the Authority produce a document that would transform the face and administration of state-owned enterprises, joint ventures, regulators and d ‘other state entities.
“It’s easy to make recommendations on how to proceed. To bring about change on the ground, it takes foresight, a lot of effort and a commitment to implement policies at all levels of decision-making in the economy, ”he said.
Dr Ishmael Yamson of Yamson & Associates commended Mr Boateng for his efforts to see the development of the Code address the issues of good governance.
He identified poor corporate governance as the root cause of many of the challenges facing the country and noted that in the 1961 budget the then finance minister lamented that state-owned enterprises did not worked and that the same statement was made in 2021.
Mr Joseph Cudjoe, Minister of Public Enterprises, said that when SOEs were not performing, the disastrous impact was that they were not able to grow to provide jobs for people to support the government.
He explained that when they were not developing, they were unable to grow to create wealth, thus failing to support the national development agenda.
“So this tool, we all have a stake in it to make sure it becomes powerful,” Cudjoe added.
GNA
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