The Tema Development Company Limited (TDC) has been crowned the overall specified entity of the year at the maiden edition of the Public Enterprises League Table (PELT) Awards held in Accra.
The event which was organized by the Ministry of Public Enterprises in collaboration with State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) and Ministry of Finance was not only aimed at rewarding hardworking entities in the country but also to motivate others to work harder.
Speaking on the theme; Improving Public Sector Business Outcomes, the Minister for Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe said "The charge to resolve such an old age problem, required that we deploy different policy decisions from the ancient ways of doing things to restructure the state entities and deliver on the President’s vision for industrial growth, corporate growth and institutional growth to create expansion of the economy for job creation.
"The President’s to vision solve problems of the public enterprises is what led to establish SIGA to represent government’s interest and oversight the state enterprises to deliver the results we desire. It is the same vision is what led to the appointment of a Minister for Public Enterprises for the first time in the history of Ghana, to oversight SIGA and also bring issues relating to public enterprises to the President’s Cabinet and to the Economic Management Team"
The Minister mentioned that State Enterprises contribute significantly to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and have a significant presence in the economy hence if stagnate, the economy will not realize its full growth potential to contribute to job creation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, since assuming office as the Minister for Public Enterprises, there have been lots of efforts driven together by my office, SIGA and the Ministry of Finance to build the capacities of boards and CEOs through good corporate governance training, making recommendations for restructuring, and turn around. We are also strengthening the current performance contract management regime, which hitherto was just a routine. We are also developing the State Ownership Policy, a document which will enable us deploy investment portfolio management strategies to ensure that each of the entities deliver the results we all desire"
He noted that to engender competition among state entities, his Ministry in partnership with SIGA and the Ministry of Finance, has introduced the Public Enterprises League Table (PELT) Awards programme.
Explaining further, he said "The PELT, as a tool to engender competition will rank the performance of entities in respect of their attainment of targets set and agreed in the annual performance contract they signed with SIGA. It is designed to be a technical ranking system on several dimensions ranging from financials, efficiency and productivity, management improvement and innovation"
Hon. Cudjoe stressed that the PELT is envisaged to promote innovation in the management of the public enterprises adding that it is expected to trigger a derived motivation on the part of the boards and CEOs to want to do better to solve the problems of the public enterprises –high indebtedness, loss making, inefficiencies, low innovation, lack of research and development.
"Since these problems are 65 years, we must all work together to send them to retirement. The awards aspect of the PELT as we are going to witness here is to provide non-pecuniary incentives for improved performance, and to recognize the CEOs/MDs/DGs and Boards of the good performing entities. Unlike a typical soccer league table, when an entity is last on this league table, it does not mean it is going on relegation but needs more attention including training and capacity building and possibly further capitalization by the shareholder"
"On the other hand, when an entity is first, it means to a large extent it is doing the right thing and must be encouraged to do more. This is why the PELT must be understood as a management by exception tool. Ladies and gentlemen, I love competition because competition is fair and brings out the best in us. Yes, the person who comes first comes under pressure to sustain performance and the person who comes last comes equally comes under pressure to improve performance. This how fair, the PELT is, so enjoy the competition"
"Let the PELT keep reminding you that these issues of profitability, payment of dividends, timely reporting, efficiency in service delivery and many others, still remain a challenge for us solve after receiving or not receiving an award tonight. I wish to appreciate the PELT Technical committee for working hard to ensure the PELT awards become a reality" he concluded.
On his part, the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia said "I was happy to accept because State Entities play an important role in the economy of our country. There is no doubt that they would continue to play critical roles in the economy going forward, and the government will give them all the support to achieve profitable and sustainable operations"
The Vice President also said "It is worth to note that the recent interest in specified entities is because of the openness and transparency that this government has demonstrated by laying bare all the relevant facts that pertain to these entities. For those who have followed particularly the publication of the State Ownership Reports, you will notice that state of reporting has significantly improved, from what it was before. We had entities that had not presented audited accounts over a long period"
Dr. Bawumia, while stating this however, admitted that there are still several non complying entities when it comes to financial reporting.
"I would like to also state that relative to timely financial reporting, the honeymoon is long over and severe sanctions will follow from now onwards for those who fail to meet required deadlines as specified in the law. The state must generate beneficial economic and social outcome from its investments in these entities, and the efforts made to improve reporting. The use of digital technology should make reporting much easier and seamless going forward"
"Ladies and gentlemen, I wholeheartedly support the innovation of the Public Enterprises League Table (PELT) because it provides a pathway for recognising well performing boards, CEOs and their management. It is my wish that the Public Enterprises League Table the gold standard for recognizing Specified Entities whose responsiveness and performance would be open for all to see"
The Vice President noted that the critical issue of contingent liabilities of state entities and their impact on government finances crowds out the opportunity to fully address pressing issues of national development.
"It is not right, that entities who have been entrusted with key state assets, declare losses for tax revenue meant for critical services to be diverted to support them. I am reliably informed by the Minister of Public Enterprises that a State Ownership Policy, Performance Management Framework and a Code of Corporate Governance for Specified Entities have been developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance, Public Services Commission and SIGA for Cabinet’s consideration. Together with the performance agreements signed between entities and SIGA, I expect to see vibrant and profitable specified entities sector going forward"
The Vice President also revealed that the Specified Entities register will soon be published and all entities therein listed will have to comply with all reporting requirements of the SIGA Act 990.
He hinted that it is the intention of the government, that some state-owned enterprises be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange adding that this is to give Ghanaians the opportunity to participate in their activities.
"It would also open the companies up to greater transparency and the tenets of good corporate governance. Besides the above, the listing would make available to the companies, additional capital for investment and growth without resorting to government for capital injection"
Taking his turn, the Director-General of State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), Ambassador Edward Boateng said "These recognition Awards are to increase the level of discipline, responsibility, and accountability amongst Specified Entities. The Awards are based on the achievement of the targets set in the Performance contracts signed with the entities. The targets are to a considerable extent set by the entities themselves but sadly many of them fail to meet their own targets"
He added that through this public recognition of the entities who strive to these targets, others will be encouraged to do same.
"Specified entities are expected by government to contribute 30% to GDP. Latest statistics indicate they are doing less than 5% when together they manage over 50% of the nation’s national productive assets. The PELT Awards seeks to redress this imbalance which has been sitting with us since Independence. Several interventions, however, have been put in place to ensure the negative narrative of the sector changes for the better"
"Among such interventions include: The publication of the yearly State Ownership Report which began in 2017, an Equity study which was commissioned in 2018 to provide a comprehensive database on all government equity holdings, the commissioning of asset verification exercise in 2019 to create a comprehensive database on the assets of defunct/inactive entities on the divestiture implementation programme and the evaluation of the 2020 performance contract for SOEs, for the first time in about three decades"
"The PELT which is based on the evaluation of the performance contract signed annually by Specified Entities adds one more stage to help in the transformation agenda. Our goal is to build these Awards over the coming years into one of the country’s most significant and treasured corporate Awards, a trophy that will be highly treasured by any CEO who means businesswise"
He mentioned that SIGA as an authority will continue to use the PELT and other enhanced management tools available to demand growth, accountability, and performance from the Specified Entities.
Ambassador Boateng encouraged all SEs to take the performance contract signing seriously going forward because of this new dimension of a league table and award scheme.
At the PELT Awards, a brief ceremony was held where there was a signing of the 2022 Performance Contract with specified entities.
In an exclusive interview with Thinknewsonline.com, the Deputy Commissioner of Gaming Commission of Ghana, Kobby Annan thanked God and the organizers for the award.
He said "People should expect the gaming commission to do better in the coming years. We had 5 nominations but won one. We are happy about that though"
He charged the award winners not to over rejoice but see it as a bigger challenge, of which they have to do more.
In all, 12 awards were given to some deserving entities for their tremendous work throughout the year, 2020.
Some of the awardees and their categories include; Overall Specified Entity of The Year - Tema Development Company Limited, Best Digital Specified Entity - DVLA, Best Inter-Trading Specified Entity- FDA, Most Efficient Regulator - Water Resources Commission, Most Financially Sustainable Regulator - FDA, Most Compliant Regulator - Environmental Protection Agency.
Others include; Most Compliant SOE - Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), Most Innovative Regulator - Gaming Commission of Ghana, Most Innovative SOE - Volta River Authority, Regulator of The Year - DVLA and State-Owned Enterprise of The Year - Tema Development Company Limited (TDC).
Below are some pictures:
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith
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