The Minister for Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe, has indicated that it is a necessity for Public Enterprises in Ghana to come out with innovations to improve on their revenue generation.

According to the Minister, it is a fact that private companies are making profits and are declaring dividends to their owners in the same market as the public enterprises yet the latter lag behind.

“State Entities as we know are usually characterised by loss making, high indebtedness, non-performance, mismanagement and sometimes collapse”, Mr. Cudjoe observed.

“Since the establishment of these entities over 65 years ago, there has not been any keen interest over their sustainability, profitability and efficiency, like the current President has demonstrated. This is the reason he appointed me for the first time in the history of this country, as Minister for Public Enterprises to deal with these issues”, the Minister stated. 

He buttressed his view by pointing to the collapse of Aboso glass factory, Bolgatanga Meat factory, Bonsa Tyre Company, Ghana Consolidated Diamond and a few others. 

Mr. Cudjoe, made these statements when he paid working visits to seven (7) State entities in the month of August, to familiarise himself with their operations and interact with the managers.

The entities visited include; Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), New Times Corporation (NTC), Metro Mass Company Ltd (MMTCL) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The rest are; Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

The Public Enterprises Minister, indicated that most Public Enterprises have huge assets with the potential to generate enough revenue to ensure profitability and it is the duty of Management to make the most out of these assets.  

“Management and staff of Public Enterprises do not utilise the huge assets they have in their possession to make profit, pay themselves well and pay dividends to government, which has invested in them. Instead, they successfully run the enterprises down and wear red bands to demonstrate against government to bring in more (tax) revenue from other sources for them to run the companies," Mr. Cudjoe further observed.

If this trend continues, he said the Public Enterprises would be competing with the delivery of public goods and services such as roads, infrastructure and other social amenities which is the sole responsibility of government to do, adding that, Public Enterprises are to generate enough revenue and pay dividends to contribute to government’s budget and not the other way round.

According to the Minister, he was appointed by the President to oversight the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) to ensure the profitability, efficiency and effectiveness of Public Enterprises, which hitherto have not been the focus of any government since independence.

“To achieve this, my office has together with SIGA and the Ministry of Finance made efforts to build capacities of Boards and CEOs through good corporate governance training, making recommendations for restructuring and turnaround. We have also introduced the Public Enterprises League Table (PELT), which maiden edition was held on 30^th June, 2022 to engender competition among the public enterprises.”

On the (PELT) for instance, the Minister said it will provide some metrics for government to assess the performances of the State Entities, therefore the need for Management to enhance their performances.

During the visits, the entities mentioned the challenges they go through for resolve by government. The Minister assured them of raising their issues at the appropriate quarters to be resolved to enhance their output.  

The Minister stressed the need for Management of each entity he visited to improve their performances by leveraging technology to come out with innovative products in line with the government’s digitalisation agenda.