Citizens to own parts of state-owned enterprises - Joseph Cudjoe announces

Soon, citizens of Ghana will have an opportunity to own parts of state-owned enterprises in the country, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe, has said.

He explained that as part of measures his ministry is undertaking to ensure that state-owned enterprises become more attractive for investments, plans are underway to give interested citizens an opportunity to buy stakes in some entities.

Joseph Cudjoe made this known during a press briefing on Wednesday, December 21, 2022.

“In addition to the PELT, we are working to provide an opportunity for Ghanaians to participate in owning parts of selected state-owned enterprises that are doing well,” he said.

Joseph Cudjoe, who is also the Member of Parliament for Effia, added that the government of Ghana has plans of listing a number of well-performing state enterprises on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

He explained that it is the hope that through this move, more investments will be directed at such entities to help make them even more attractive and competitive.

“It is the intention of government to list qualifying SOEs on the Ghana Stock Exchange. This would lead to greater participation of private investment in the selected entities and improve the country’s capital market. Listing is also expected to open the companies to greater transparency and the tenets of good corporate governance,” he added.

The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, set up the Ministry of Public Enterprises in 2021 to be able to ensure that the many state-owned enterprises in the country that are established to contribute to the economy by being profitable and paying dividends for national development begin to live up to their mandates.

It was noticed that over time, however, many of the state enterprises became a drain on the economy, regularly seeking bailouts and financial support to stay afloat.

Upon realizing this key challenge, President Akufo-Addo re-organised the State Enterprises Commission (SEC) and the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), which led to the promulgation of the SIGA Act (Act 990) to establish the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), and subsequently appointed a Minister for Public Enterprises to oversee SIGA.

AE/WA