CEO of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson, says it is ‘hard’ for CEOs of State-Owned Enterprises to ‘perform’ because they are appointed in return for favours done for the appointing authority.
He explained that most of the CEO’s helped the governing party in one way or the other, before political power was won, hence the position serves as reward for work done politically, not necessarily on the basis of competence.
According to him, the situation is compounded by the fact that their performance is not tied to any benchmarks.
Speaking on the Super Morning Show, on Tuesday, April 26, Mr. Thompson stated that, even though some of the CEOs receive high remuneration, the real cause for concern is the fact that the compensation is not linked to performance.
“The issue is not how much they are paid. The issue is that they don’t do anything for it,” he said.
His comment follows recent agitations from a section of the public over the seemingly “fat salaries and allowances” of Management of some State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Ghana.
CEO of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson
Mr Thompson bemoaned the recruitment of partisan loyalists into top managerial positions in the public sector, stressing that this does not augur well for enhanced productivity across state-owned enterprises.
“The problem is that it’s very difficult for them to perform. It’s impossible because when they get there, they are appointed because it’s a reward because of something they have done – he was [either] a serial caller, he cooked for delegates, or he provided accommodation for the people when they came to his region or when there was a constituency election, he provided the chairs.
“So he’s done the work already and he’s being rewarded and therein lies the problem. First, there is no measurement of performance. Secondly, it’s a reward and it’s not so much the money but people are worried that they spend tax payer’s money and they get nothing,” he noted.
On JoyNews’ Newsfile on April 23, host, Samson Lardy Anyenini, revealed a number of allowances leaders of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are enjoying aside from their huge salaries.
The allowances include; an entertainment allowance of ¢1500 a month, home enhancement loan of about ¢2000, travel per diem of $1500, allowance for a replacement for eye lenses at ¢1000 yearly, and inconvenience allowance of ¢500 per day. This revelation has sparked a conversation about protecting the taxpayers’ monies.
Already the Finance Ministry had revealed that SOEs were causing huge losses to the country to the tune of about ¢6bn annually. Yet, leaders of State-Owned Enterprises do not only take high salaries but also enjoy a wide range of allowances.
