The Institute of Directors-Ghana (IoD-Gh) has reacted to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta’s revelation that about 47 State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have defaulted in submitting their annual financial statements since 2016.

President of the Institute, Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah, described the act of unaccountability as worrying and unacceptable.

Speaking at the virtual induction of four Fellows and 32 members into the IoD-Gh on Thursday, August 26, he said the issue runs down good governance in various institutions.

According to him, the Chief Executives of these defaulting SOEs should not shoulder the blame alone; boards must equally be blamed since it indicates poor corporate governance.

He further attributed the issue to the appointment of people who lacked the right qualifications to effectively operate boards of these SOEs.

“The failure to submit audited financial statements is a blatant contravention of the law and does not speak well of the defaulting SOEs.

“There is the need, therefore, to appoint qualified, knowledgeable and results-oriented people in the boardroom of these SOEs to provide the appropriate oversight and leadership.

"For organisations to achieve their objectives, in both the public and private sectors, board positions cannot be for family and friends, neither should it be compensation for footsoldiers,” he said.

Mr Dogbegah also added that the key consideration for appointment to board positions is competency and industry experience.

He commended government highly for establishing the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) to oversee the activities of SOEs.

“I wish to seize this opportunity to commend Mr [Stephen] Asamoah Boateng, the Director-General of SIGA, for his initiatives; he has started developing frameworks for the transparent process to appoint CEOs and boards, which will require publication of such positions for public participation which appeared in the Daily Graphic today. This is a step in the right direction and highly commendable,” he said.

“The challenge to the process, however, is that most of the public sector organisations have to make their board nominations from some specific institutions, which list does not include the Institute of Directors-Ghana, at the moment. This aspect may require some parliamentary amendment moving forward.”

On his part, the Director-General of SIGA, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, said a common code of national corporate governance needs to replace the individual, industry-specific codes.

He stated that his outfit has begun reviewing the processes leading to the appointment of individuals on public sector boards to make them more beneficial to the country. appoint qualified, knowledgeable and results-oriented people in the boardroom

The Ag. Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, was among members to be inducted as Fellows.

The others to be inducted as Fellows were Ing. Frederick Emmanuel Aryeetey, Prof. Samuel Nii Odai, and Peter Claver Nibepwo Sangber-Dery.