The State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) has taken note of recent statements made by Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President of IMANI Africa, calling for the dissolution of SIGA.
The Authority believes that the Imani President's position would have been different had he sought clarifications from SIGA on the many initiatives and activities currently being pursued to exact performance and compliance from our Specified Entities.
The Authority, per this press release, seeks to educate the public on the significant contributions, impact, and continued relevance of SIGA in the governance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Ghana.
In various jurisdictions around the globe, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have been established as key pillars of national economic development strategies. Despite their significant economic role, evidence from the 1970s and 1980s reveals that SOEs generally underperformed compared to private firms, largely due to mismanagement and fragmented oversight among other factors.
To address these challenges, many countries adopted a central oversight model, aimed at ensuring that SOEs are managed efficiently, transparently, and in alignment with national economic goals.
Central oversight bodies have since been instrumental in safeguarding public assets, improving SOE performance, and promoting economic growth. In 1971, Singapore established SIGA's counterpart Temasek as the centralized body responsible for improving SOE performance and assets Today, countries like China, France, India and South Korea are model examples of the effectiveness of centralized oversight of SOEs in national development.
In 2015, a diagnostic study conducted by the World Bank on Ghana's SOE sector identified significant challenges in governance, management, and financial performance.
The findings revealed that the oversight of SOEs was dispersed across various government actors, resulting in overlapping responsibilities and authority. This fragmentation created irregularities in information between SOE management, the government, and civil society.
Furthermore, the lack of publicly available comprehensive financial information on SOEs severely undermined effective state oversight, strategic planning, and decision-making.
The findings highlighted the critical need for a more structured and centralized approach to SOE oversight in Ghana, recommending reforms aimed at enhancing efficiency and accountability. This assessment laid the groundwork for the establishment of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which was formally created through the promulgation of the SIGA Act (Act 990) in 2019.
Source: SIGA
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