Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), Ambassador Edward Boateng says the Authority will ensure State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) operate under the right business principles and ultimately achieve national growth and development by creating an enabling environment for the private sector.
With the ruling government largely believing in empowering the private sector as it considers them the engine of growth, it is important an economic superhighway is created by SOEs for use by private entities.
“The truth is that in all parts of the world government entities create the economic superhighway which makes it easier for private entities to setup. The government wants the private sector to be the engine of growth of the nation and this growth can only materialize if there is an economic superhighway they can use. These highways are created by the government through entities such as the ones we have here. But I don’t think they have been able to perform those roles efficiently and that is why the President based on his experience and vision established SIGA so we can create this economic superhighway for the private sector to ride on,” told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.
The SIGA boss who has vast experience from working in Europe, the United States of America (USA), and many parts of Africa, showed concern over why business people have to start from ground zero when they want to start anything in Ghana when the story is different elsewhere.
“When I started GMA in South Africa, media owners didn’t have to build an antenna and the many things we did to be a media house here in Ghana. They had already created the media superhighway. Once you have your license all the things such as masts, antennas, cables etc have been set up for you and a considerable amount of your cost is cut down. But as of that time, in Ghana, media firms had to build their own masts, purchase antennas etc. But presently, due to digital transmission, such costs are reduced. These are the things we want to simplify for our economy to grow. SIGA is here to ensure we do things differently.”
Explaining how SOEs will be made effective to achieve this goal, he indicated that these SOEs sign performance contracts with SIGA yearly with their (SOEs) objectives clearly stated in them. SIGA ensures SOEs are on track to achieving these goals with close supervision. “We have to ensure their work is up to standard and that’s what we do. So all the CEOs, Chairs and Boards report to SIGA and we work with them to ensure their objectives are met.”
By: Joel Sanco
