A member of the Communications Team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Hamza Suhuyini, has stated that the chief executives of state-owned enterprises and public agencies must be held accountable for the losses incurred by their institutions.

According to him, the lack of accountability and transparency within these institutions places a burden on the government, piling up debts and causing financial losses to the state.

He argued that the perception that the government will always intervene during times of crisis fosters an environment of mismanagement, as seen in the case of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

The ECG is currently grappling with significant debts resulting from operational losses, poor revenue mobilisation, and power theft.

“We have reached a stage in this country where chief executives must be held accountable for their actions,” Suhuyini asserted.

“Let us examine how they are managing their respective organisations. This lazy approach of blaming everything on the government only creates a protective shield for many of them to continue operating inefficiently, especially when they are appointed to bring meaningful transformation to these sectors.”

He also pointed out that many state institutions do not take their debt obligations to ECG seriously because they rely on government intervention to prevent disconnection.

His comments follow ECG’s recent nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise, during which it uncovered that various state institutions, including Ghana Water Limited and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), owe over GH¢1 billion in unpaid electricity bills.

“State institutions behave this way because they believe the government will step in anytime a disconnection looms, simply because they are all government service providers,” Suhuyini added. “So, the incentive for managers of these state institutions to settle their debts to ECG is virtually nonexistent.”

SSD/MA