SIGA under-resourced; SOEs not paying mandatory dividends

Accra-Ghana, Jan. 31, GNA – The State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) says it does not have the needed resources to effectively discharge its mandate.
Although State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are mandated by law to pay a percentage of their annual dividends to the Authority, none of them have done so since the establishment of SIGA three years ago.
In a media engagement in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Edward Boateng, Director-General, SIGA, said the situation had compelled him to use his personal resources to run the Authority – a situation he described as worrying.
“Since the establishment of the Authority, none of them (SOEs) have paid dividend to us. The chairs, tables and other things we use here were provided by me. So in case I’m no longer here and I take them away, how is the Authority going to operate?” He asked.
He added: “SIGA should be financially empowered so we can attract the best of talents…This year we are projecting dividends of about GHS80 million,” he said.
SIGA was established under the SIGA Act, 2019 (Act 990) to oversee and administer the state-interests in State-Owned Enterprises, Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) and other State entities.
The Authority is mandated under the Act to among others promote the efficient or profitable operations of Specified Entities and to ensure that those entities adhered to good corporate governance practices.
Section 24 of the Act mandates SOEs and JVCs to pay “not more than five per cent of dividends” to SIGA on an annual basis.
“Each Specified Entity shall not later than 31st March of each year pay to the Authority monitoring fee in accordance with the Fees and Charges,” the Act further directs.
Mr Boateng said one of the challenges facing the Authority was “an overlap of roles” as some entities still took instructions from their Ministries against the legal mandates of SIGA.
He said the Authority would continuously engage the Ministries to understand the limit of the functions and avoid conflict of roles.
“Traditionally, policy formulation had rested with the Ministries. With the SIGA Act, the Ministry should be focusing on policy formulation and SIGA should be focusing on the execution of those policies within the SOEs,” he said.
One of the challenges that had plagued SOEs over the years had been their inability to make profit (where necessary), reduce losses, and contribute significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Prior to the establishment of SIGA, a total of 47 SOEs in 2019 recorded an aggregate net loss of GHS5.16 billion.
In 2020, the loss reduced to GHS2.61 billion, the 2020 State Ownership Report found.
Mr Boateng said one of the key agenda of the Authority was to turn around the operations of the SOEs to become economically viable and attractive.
He said the last audited accounts conducted in 2021 showed that SOE losses had reduced to GHS2.4 billion and expressed confidence that the Specified Entities would post profits as they complied with the Authority’s directives.
“The SOEs must ensure that their audited and management accounts are in shape which helps all of us. A lot of SOEs are now complying and it is going to improve,” Mr Boateng said.
Currently, SIGA has 175 state enterprises under its supervision.
The 2020 State Ownership Report shows that SOEs paid a total of GHS275.48m as dividend to the Government out of a projected amount of GHS290.4.