Politico staff writer
Just over two weeks after President Bio signed performance contracts with his ministers; the Chief Minister has told heads of State-owned Enterprises that by the end of a month “we will sign performance contracts with all of SOEs. This is what we mean by improving the public sector architecture - one of President Bio's Big 5”.
At a meeting with the leadership of the National Commission for Privatization and about 26 State Owned Enterprises, David Sengeh said “our expectations are that these institutions deliver services for our people and raise revenue for the state”.
The Chief Minister said during the meeting “we ran through their historic fiscal records and their current status (staff size, revenues)”. According to Sengeh, “apart from EDSA, all the agencies committed to at least breaking even this year. We challenged them to think about innovative service delivery approaches, add new revenue streams, and optimize efficiency”.
The Electricity Distribution and Supply Agency, EDSA is in big trouble with independent power suppliers causing them to cut supply for two weeks, plunging Freetown into darkness, unprecedented since President Bio came to power in 2018.
Energy minister Kanja Sesay resigned last week leaving President Bio now supervising the energy portfolio assisted by two deputy ministers.
Andrew Lavalie, the Executive Director of the respected think tank - Institute for Governance Reform, IGR said at the launch of a report titled: debt and the death of state-owned enterprises and parastatals at the end of 2023 “we cannot continue to protect failure, indiscipline, and debts in our institutions and expect other countries to feed us and heal our sick. Twenty years after the rebel war has ended the failure of SOEs and parastatals has trapped us in huge domestic debts”. He blamed “political compensation” as a key reason for the loss-making state of SOEs.
By turning the spotlight on the SOEs, the Chief Minister appears to be sending a message that the government cannot continue bailing them out. Politico understands that at the meeting Sengeh went into sensitive questions around why and how enterprises created to serve the people and make profits have largely failed.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (29/04/24)
