By S. Siapha Mulbah
The Bureau of State Own Enterprises has outlined a future strategic reform plan to improve its service delivery across the country and improve the working relationship within state enterprises.
The bureau in charge of supervising all government shares within enterprises across the country wants to revamp its operations ensuring that the actual goals and objectives of the institution be implemented accordingly.
Speaking in Monrovia March 21, 2023 when BSE held the ‘Liberia SOE Corporate Governance Assessment Findings Workshop’, Director General Jamoil P. Cummings disclosed that the Bureau of State cares about the institution making its mark across government and delivering the best results needed.
He said state enterprises are the driving force to the growth and development of the nation’s economy, so there is a relevant call to improve on issues to include but not limited to, financial reporting, compliance score, corporate governance and others.
According to him, as part of BSE’s reform process, the institution is hoping to see key issues related to state shares being appropriately monitored and the relevant authority be given to the entity.
He listed legal reform, data management and economic expansion programs for the sector as the foremost priority areas that the bureau has cataloged coherently to deal with as soon as possible.
Director Cummings disclosed that part of the legal reform activities will focus on creating acts that will be pushing coordination and governance across state enterprises.
“There are some concerns that enterprises are overlapping functions, and certain acts of legislature conflict the workings of SOEs as well. The ‘State Enterprise and Interest Governance Authority Act’ will give the bureau the authority to guide every SOE and there will be legal review of the process,” he said.
The Bureau’s Director also indicated that the legal reform process will also improve and strengthen government authorities function in the operations of the sector because it is the driving force behind the country’s economy.
He said the objective of the process focuses on developing corporate governance scale, and providing effective wage bills in SOEs tracking fixed assets.
He intimated that the revenue generation track is also part of the expected outcomes of the process while the debt portfolios and other financial mechanisms be monitored for transparency and accountability.
“We are into financial operations and most importantly some state enterprises are benefiting from international partners and others are not, so in order to promote transparency and accountability, the debt portfolio, wage bill and other things need to be looked at keenly,” Cummings asserted.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Bureau of State Enterprises is calling on all state-owned enterprises in the country to take advantage of timely reporting as the institution continues to work with more international partners to aid the sector.
Director Cummings said his attention was drawn to the delay of SOEs to present its financial and other compliance reports needed to the bureau for review.
“It is very important to make you report to us so that our international partners can review the work we do at the various institutions. If this is not done there is a possibility that there will be no trust in the operations and that undermines futures partnerships,” he added.
He made the disclosure at the World Bank funded workshop held at Mamba Point Hotel that was attended by representatives of different enterprises along with a team from the bank and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
