Minister calls for better results

By REBECCA KUKU
EXECUTIVES, chairman and directors of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been told to improve their performance.
Minister for Public Enterprises and State Investment William Duma, pictured, told them during the 2019 State enterprises meeting yesterday that they had to change the way they had been operating for the last 20 years.
“We have nine SOEs employing close to 7117 employees, with assets valued at K9 billion, earning K3.1 billion for which the shareholder is K937 million,” he said.
“For comparatively big companies with assets valued at K9 billion, a total revenue of only K3 billion, which equates to 4.8 per
cent of the GDP, is not good enough.”
Duma said that SOEs were enjoying a monopoly or near monopoly status and their output was not good.
“All SOEs must change the way they have been operating for the last 20 years,” he said.
“Change the existing corporate culture, of been defensive or of nepotism, review contracts and ensure we get value for money.”
Duma said this year, the State-owned enterprises would work harder and smarter to improve their performance to world-class benchmarks.
“Although our SOEs enjoy monopoly, they have been performing at standards that cannot be tolerated by our people anymore,” he said.
“And embarrassing when measured against countries in the region.
“Therefore, I ask all of you to work with me to help improve our performance this year.”