Ambassador Edward Boateng, Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) has indicated that plans for the deployment of a real-time monitoring system to supervise the performance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the country to ensure they become productive are well-advanced.

“Compliance is critical. To monitor SOEs, we intend to deploy a real-time monitoring system. We will insist on compliance, and we will do so in a timely manner. Some companies file their first-quarter financial reports in June. That is unacceptable. That will change, and if you do not comply, you will be sanctioned,” he said.

He made the remarks on Thursday, December 8, 2022, at the State of the Agencies Report, an engagement platform initiated by SIGA in collaboration with the Ministry of Information for Heads of Specified Entities to account to the public and stakeholders on the activities of their organizations.

According to Amb. Boateng, the move is intended to address the country’s poor aggregate performance of SOEs and position them to be productive and capable of generating the necessary revenue for the government.

He also stated that SIGA will continue to prepare its annual State Ownership Report (SOR) as part of a broader strategy to reform and improve SOE governance and financial performance. The initiative, which began in 2017, annually publishes SOE’s financial performance.

According to the 2020 publication, 24 of the 47 shortlisted SOEs significantly improved year on year accounting for 50% of the country’s total assets. This Amb. Boateng lauded the initiative, emphasizing its importance in increasing transparency and accountability in the SOE sector.

Representatives from the State Interests and Governance Authority, the Ministry of Information, and the Media attended the engagement.

SIGA launched the State of the Agencies Report initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Information with the goal of educating and informing the public on the activities and projects of Specified Entities. SIGA and the Ministry of Information intend to host more engagements for the Specified Entities in 2023.