John Boadu
The State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), has called on stakeholders to acknowledge the significant contributions, impact, and continued relevance of SIGA in the governance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the country.
Director-General of SIGA, John Boadu who made the call when he addressed journalists at the Ministry of Information’s ‘Meet the Press’ series in Accra said SOEs have been established as key pillars of national economic development despite its underperformance compared to private firms.
The Director General’s call also comes in the wake of recent statements made by Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, who called for the dissolution of SIGA.
According to him, SIGA which was formally created through the promulgation of the SIGA Act (Act 990) in 2019 is mandated to oversee and administer the State’s interests in specified entities which comprise State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Joint Venture Companies (JVCs), and Other State Enterprises (OSEs).
He said SIGA also has an additional mandate to develop a code of corporate governance guidelines to promote sound governance within the institutions it oversees and introduce private sector practices to drive efficiency, sustainability and profitability, where applicable.
Mr. Boadu indicated that SIGA’s strategic intent which hinges on three critical results such as organisational excellence, operational excellence, and financial sustainability has over the past five years, made significant strides towards attainment of its objectives.
The Director-General further stated that to ensure legitimacy with State Enterprises (SEs) and other stakeholders, the Authority has successfully developed the list of Specified Entities which also received Cabinet approval in 2023.
He mentioned that the current list of 175 State Enterprises comprises 53 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), 47 Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) and 75 Other State Enterprises (OSEs) and provides clarity on SIGA’s scope for State Enterprises’ oversight.
He further highlighted that SIGA’s operations has also strengthened engagements with State Enterprises through the signing of annual performance contracts, monitoring of SEs’ operations in line with performance contract targets, annual evaluation of performance to provide feedback for improvement, training of boards and entity heads on good corporate governance.
“Significant outcomes have been identified over the years through the work of SIGA. Compliance to preparation and submission of annual financial statements which used to be non-existent has now been reversed. From 18 financial statements prepared and submitted by 18 SEs in 2016, the record as of July 2024 shows that 147 SEs prepared and submitted financial statements for year 2023”.
“This is significant because the preparation of financial statements marks the beginning of transparency and accountability. Through SIGA’s efforts, SEs today are not operating in the dark. Their performance is constantly monitored and reported on. The annual state ownership report which had 18 SEs covered for year 2016, currently has 146 SEs reported for year 2022,” he added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah