The Minister for Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe has sworn in the newly constituted Board of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) with a call on them to guide state enterprises to maximum profitability and bring an end to an era of losses.

He reiterated that the priority of the board is to ensure that state owned enterprises perform well to contribute to the country’s growth and development, a goal he said is very dear to the President's heart.

According to Mr Cudjoe, underperformance of state enterprises dates back in time and this he says must change considering how many state institutions have in the past accrued debt leading to its eventual collapse.

“The story of how state enterprises have performed over the years has not been one we can share with pride. It was expected that state entities would conduct their businesses in a manner that would ensure profitability and the payment of dividend to the state to support the national development effort.

"However, over time, we have not only seen the lack of payment of dividend to the state but a competition for support from the budget, effectively taking away resources for other development projects. Such competition for budgetary support when not fulfilled has led to the collapse of some state entities, which we are all well aware of," the Minister said.

The Minister further expressed gratitude to the Board for their decision to serve the nation and also assured them of his unflinching support.

He urged members to use their knowledge, skill and experience to ensure maximum efficiency.

“It is my charge to you to use your knowledge, skill and experience to achieve the ownership management objective of these SEs, good corporate governance and high-performance management because these are the essence of SIGA’s existence. I look forward to effective board performance to give direction to SIGA", Hon. Cudjoe said.

The board is chaired by Mr. Terrence Darko with other members including Ms Yasmin Baba, Mr. Franklin Asafo-Adjaye, Mr. Felix Ntrakwah, Mr. Kow Essuman, Dr. Margaret Atuahene, Mr. Elikem Nutifafa Kuenyehia, Mr. David Collision and Ambassador Edward Boateng, Acting Director-General of SIGA.

Board Chair, Mr. Terrence Darko expressed his appreciation to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the opportunity to again serve on the board and assured the Minister of the Board’s commitment to work assiduously to keep the agencies working.

“I also want to assure our sector Minister of our readiness to work in partnership with him. You have a very accomplished Board with diverse talent and experience that you can trust and depend on to achieve the objectives of SIGA.”, Mr Darko said

He charged the management of SIGA to do its bit to ensure that the institutions it oversees employ the best practices to ensure productivity and economic growth.

“To the management of SIGA, the Authority must make sure that specified entities follow appropriate corporate governance procedures and comply with all the relevant laws. It is our responsibility to ensure that productivity and economic growth in our State Enterprises improves significantly. Our State Enterprises are expected to contribute almost a third of our GDP but are nowhere near that objective.

“SIGA is therefore expected to be a change agent to ensure that this objective and the President's vision of a prosperous, inclusive, sustainable, empowered, and resilient Ghana is realized as part of the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda," the Board Chair said.