You’ll lose your job, salaries for poor performance – Asamoah-Boateng tells CEOs

On July 27, 2021, 3:04 PM

The Executive Director of the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, has warned that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) risk losing their jobs if they underperform by the close of 2021.

The SIGA boss also cautioned the CEOs who are under his supervision that they would also lose their salaries or bonuses should they fail to deliver on their targets.

Asamoah-Boateng said this at the 2021 Performance Contract signing ceremony in Accra on July 26, 2021.

The caution comes on the back of the failure of about 47 SOEs to submit financial statements to the Finance Ministry for review for more than six years.

This is in contravention of the Public Financial Management (PFMA) Act 921 which requires the SOEs to submit quarterly reports on their operations for review.

Asamoah-Boateng, who used to be a Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantseman West, told the CEOs that SIGA has “the authority to recommend for the termination of [a] contract of any CEO that fails to deliver and beyond the call for dismissal we can also ask the appointing authority [Office of the President] to block bonus payment or salaries. And we believe this will push them to work efficiently.”

He added that various punitive measures have been taken to ensure that CEOs who do not adhere to the laid down rules as required by the PFMA, including exercising good corporate governance, are dealt with.

Asamoah-Boateng said the sanctions have been framed to deter other CEOs from future non-compliance.

Although he did not disclose names of enterprises, the Director-General of SIGA, stated that six SOEs are currently being sanctioned for their persistent disregard of the PFMA.

“At the moment we have written letters to about six SOEs, and we have already applied the sanctions. For every sanction we identify, be it a financial statement, management practices etc., you pay over GH₵12,000 for each. You can imagine if the infractions are more than two. We want it to be a deterrent,” he said.

Public enterprises are not vehicles to enrich one’s self

On his part, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, cautioned workers in various state enterprises against using those businesses as conduits for enriching themselves.

He said, “our public enterprises are not vehicles to enrich a minority. They are intended to be arms through which the state promotes equality of opportunity and presents its citizens the tools to shape their own lives.”

Ofori-Atta then charged them to ensure that they actively align their goals with the Ghana CARES Programme and be a significant partner in the country’s economic transformation.

“In line with the president’s vision of using the pandemic to recreate our country, the time has come to change the culture of our state enterprises,” he echoed.

Apart from the 47 public enterprises that have in the past six years failed to submit their financial statements the finance minister disclosed that, only 14 out of 129 SOEs and other state entities submitted their quarterly reports on their operations.

The Minister of Finance explained that “these statistics highlight the need for a renewed performance contract between the State and its enterprises. To recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must pursue accountability, transparency, and responsible custodianship.”

President Akufo-Addo charges SEOs to be more profitable

Meanwhile, the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, speaking at the same programme, challenged state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to be profitable and contribute more to national development.

In addition, Akufo-Addo asked the management of these enterprises, which are operating under SIGA to effectively and efficiently, run their institutions to employ more Ghanaians.

“The task is therefore for you to operate profitably and efficiently and by so doing expand your scope of operations so that you can employ many more people.

I am hopeful that by the end of each fiscal year, every specified entity that has signed this compact with the government will be able to achieve these objectives,” the president said.

He then charged the managers of the SOEs to adopt the best corporate governance practices, to achieve their objectives for the year, as well as the targets under the Performance Agreement in tandem with the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.

The performance contract

The performance contract will be used to assess and evaluate the work of SEOs, by measuring indices such as good corporate governance, efficient and profitable running of operations.

The contract has five thematic areas of focus, which include streamlining government oversight of the SOE’s sector, piloting corporate governance improvements, government lending policy, credit risk assessment for SEOs and rationalising compensation and salary disparities.

This is to motivate all SOEs in the country to transform their respective institutions into gainful entities.

Story By Francis Ntow