Monitor state-owned institutions closely
Most part of this year has recorded startling revelations of high-profile malfeasance and fraud in state, public and quasi government institutions.
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The magnitude as well as the frequency of this disturbing trend is reminiscent of what pertained during the post-December 31 Revolution when school heads and some unscrupulous bursars collaborated to siphon huge sums of money from the national kitty.
The clandestine and cunning way these unpatriotic citizens executed this fraud, dubbed ‘Over the Bar’, was so flawless that it took just one individual, also a headmistress, who was privy to the dubious act to expose the perpetrators.
Several years after this canker was uncovered and the culprits dealt with harshly through long periods of imprisonment, to serve as a deterrent to other state and public office holders as well as political functionaries, the malaise that engulfed this country has resurfaced in a more bizarre form.
This time, the perpetrators are emboldened to hack into the payroll system with fictitious and non-existent workers to steal millions of cedis from the taxpayer at the end of every month.
Apart from those whose treacherous scheme was to ‘chop’ into the national payroll system, others have decided to spend lavishly on accommodation, per diems, allowances and other fringe benefits among other things which will in the end erode the financial stability of their respective organisations and institutions.
Apart from this recklessness on the part of the extravagant key public office holders, there is a high-level mismanagement of some state-owned institutions by some avaricious Chief Executive Officers (CEO) and Managing Directors (MD) who run these companies as their bona fide properties.
Most of these CEOs and MDs would certainly not run their own organisations the way they are administering those that belong to the state.
They take draconian decisions that are not favourable for the growth and productivity of the institutions and organisations.
Sadly, when other subordinates who are very conversant with some of the policy guidelines that have worked in other places suggest what has been tried and tested over a period they are tagged as enemies of progress and are made to suffer for offering that alternative.
Some of these unilateral decisions by the CEOs/MDs have seriously impacted negatively on some of these state-owned institutions and are therefore killing initiatives and dampening morale among the workforce.
If we look back in the 1980s, during the administration of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), led by Chairman Jerry Rawlings, a large number of state-owned institutions were divested as a result of non-performance and this was due to managerial incompetencies, as well as mismanagement.
This singular action by the PNDC adminstration was not popular among majority of Ghanaians at the time but today, the Council has been vindicated because most of these institutions that were disposed of as a result of mismanagement have been turned around and are doing marvelously well.
What threatened the stability of these companies sometime ago seems to be creeping back into the management style of some of the state-owned institutions where the CEOs/MDs have turned themselves into tin gods and have become dictatorial while running a virtually one-man show to the detriment of the organisations they head.
These power-drunk CEOs/MDs have usurped the functions and roles of the Procurement, Human Resource and other strategic units of their respective companies and keep taking unilateral decisions which are most of the time in conflict with the bureaucratic models as outlined by Max Weber, a German sociologist, that should be in place in most corporate institutions.
This was clearly demonstrated at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where the Local Union executive sounded the alarm bell about the leadership style of the then acting Chief Executive. No one listened to their cry, not even the Board of Directors of the hospital until their persistent wailing finally resulted in the intervention of the President who terminated the CEO’s appointment. This action subsequently led to the resignation of the Board Chairman who had supervised the mess at the premier teaching hospital.
I am by this article sounding a note of caution to the appointing authorities, such as the Public Services Commission, the State Enterprises Commission, the National Media Commission and other institutions charged with the appointment of CEOs/MDs for state-owned as well as quasi governmental institutions to ‘shine’ their eyes and show keen interest in what pertains at these institutions and organisations.
I am not exaggerating, but there is a lot of mess going on in some of these companies and if the appointing authorities do not act to redeem these institutions, we shall all be overtaken by events.
Already, majority of Ghanaians are flabbergasted by the exposure of the rot that has engulfed the National Service Scheme secretariat. There are more of such thievery, extravagance, mismanagement going on at some of these institutions and the earlier the rot is put in check the better for all Ghanaians.
The appointing authorities must go beyond the receipt of quarterly/annual reports from these institutions under their watch and do their own enquiries once a while to update themselves of the conduct, management style and workers’ impression and ratings of their respective CEOs/MDs.
The monitoring must go beyond what the board of governors will say about these CEOs/MDs because some of the board members have compromised their positions and therefore cannot raise a finger against these erring CEOs/MDs of any state-owned institutions.