SOEs to account for stewardship — Hayibor (15/7/09)

State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) will henceforth be made to account for their stewardship under a programme to be rolled out by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and SOEs.
The rationale behind the programme is to afford the Ghanaian taxpayer the opportunity to know whether or not their taxes are being used profitably.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor, Member of Parliament (MP) for Hohoe North Constituency made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra.
He said SOEs would be made to account for what they used their funds for and whether or not they made profits and losses.
Mr Hayibor said the programme which was a collaborative effort between the Parliamentary Select Committee and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), would be broadcast live.
The programme which is an interactive one will also allow members of the public to make contributions and ask questions on the performance of SOEs.
Responding to the ineffectiveness of some SOE’s, Mr Hayibor said targets had to be set for Chief Executive Officer’s of the Various SOE’s in which failure to meet targets would result in dismissal of such officials.
He said public enterprises were being mismanaged and were not succeeding like private enterprises, an issue that had to be explained by officials in charge of the enterprises.
He added that measures had to be put in place to ensure that targets were met.
He said SOE’s had to be managed properly to prosper and make profits for the development of the country’s economy just like privately owned enterprises.
Mr Hayibor said the committee needed funds to run and sustain the programme to ensure accountability in SOE’s.
He, therefore, appealed to institution and benevolent organisations to support the programme.