Ghana’s equity in some SOEs unknown - Asamoah Boateng

Executive Chairman of the State Enterprise Commission (SEC), Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has revealed that Ghana’s stake in some State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) is unknown, a situation he has decried.

Citing an instance, Mr Asamoah Boateng, who was appointed by President Nana Akufo-Addo to head the SEC not too long ago said there was a farm which the state has equity in but individuals are the ones reaping from the state’s equity.

“I mean I just got to know that we don’t even know the number of equity we hold in certain areas. Somebody hinted me the other day [that] the state has interest in a farm and we’ve left it and so there are people who are chopping from it free of charge…” Mr Asamoah Boateng told Francis Abban of Starr FM on Monday, 15 May on the sidelines of the National Policy Summit organised by the Government at the Accra International Conference Centre.

The former Information Minister said he intends to use his tenure at the SEC to ensure that all SOEs, including those that have been left to rot, make good returns for the state.

“…They have been left to run down for a while. I haven’t got a clue why. I’m trying to learn why they left it because the potential there is huge because you are talking about public funds in industry in which the state wants to play a role and you can’t sink public funds into enterprises and let it rot.

“You’ve got to have a return, and, so, I’m trying to understand why it was left the way it was. Government owns certain agencies, some of them 100%, some of them less than that, sometimes we don’t even know [government’s stake],” he stressed.

“… For me, we can’t let public fund go rot, you put in money, you must expect a return; private money goes somewhere, they want a profit, so, why would you want the state money to go somewhere … and then you want it to go to waste?”