Divestiture of SOEs justified — Pepera

A DEPUTY Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Peter Wiafe Pepera, has justified the divestiture of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

He said the policy has been more beneficial to the national economy by increasing employment opportunities, profit margins and cutting down government expenditure.

He said it has also attracted investments and boosted private sector participation.

Mr Pepera said this at a news conference in Accra yesterday to clarify what he described as misinformation and spreading of falsehood by opponents of the government, particularly the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He said Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, NPP spokesman on finance and Member of Parliament for Offinso North, has on a number of occasions alleged that a large number of industries have closed down whilst thousands of Ghanaians have been rendered jobless due to the divestiture and mismanagement of the government's economic policies.

Giving figures and names of divested companies to corroborate the statement, the deputy Minister said the employment levels at the Golden Tulip Hotel and the West African Mills have increased from 116 and 170 before divestiture to 346 and 450 after it.

He said the Tema Steel Company, formerly GIHOC Tema Steelworks, Ghana Agro-Food Company (Tema Food Complex) and Coca Cola Bottling have recorded increase of 584, 1,570 and 650 after divestiture from 130,494 and 401 before the programme.

He said the mission of the divestiture programme to unlock the economic potential of SOEs totalling 300 and reduce their financial and managerial burden has been achieved.

Mr Pepera said there have been transfers of 212 enterprises or units to the private sector, whilst sales have increased as a result of improved productivity arising from injection of new investment into several of the divested companies.

He said the financial and capital market has been given a boost through the listing of divested enterprises on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

He said the fight against inflation, high interest rates, depreciation of the cedi would be stepped up, adding that these are national problems which require that all Ghanaians put their hands on deck to succeed in overcoming them.

Mr Pepera called for hard work and increased productivity on the part of industrial establishments with tremendous potential to change the country's industrial horizon.

He said between 1996 and 1999, more new companies were set up as opposed to the 377 businesses which the NPP claimed failed in 1996 alone.

He said 19,902, 17,551 and 18,473 new companies registered in 1997, 1998 and 1999 to begin business saying, "this roughly corresponds to a rate of 38 business start-ups to every business closure."