PMRC pleased with govt’s stance on State Owned Enterprises

PMRC Executive Director Bernadette Deka

Policy Monitoring and Research Center (PMRC) is pleased with the decision by government as highlighted in 2017 national budget to conduct a situational analysis of some State Owned Enterprises (SOE’s) in an effort to recapitalize those that are viable and hive off those that are not viable.

The listed SOE’s are Zesco, Zamtel, Zambia National Building Society, Indeni, TAZAMA Pipeline, Zambia Railways and Zambia State Insurance Corporation.

PMRC Executive Director Bernadette Deka says her organization’s interest in SOE’s stems from past analytical work carried out in partnership with the Office of the Auditor General, supported by various SOE’s and funded by the Swedish Government under the PMRC Governance thematic area.

Ms Deka explains that the analyses highlighted various challenges faced by SOE’s which include Goals and intentions of SOE’s are not clearly defined, SOE’s face significant political interference with weak governance and control, no specific legislation or monitoring framework exists to guide and assess performance.

Ms Deka says there is need to comprehensively review the all parastatal organizations to determine their individual financial and management status in comparison to Government financial contributions and reported dividends or profits.

She has furthermore observed the need to development a plan or strategy mapping the overall objectives and development strategy for parastatals as well as defining policy, social and commercial objectives that need to be achieved.

Ms Deka says the government should also review controls and procedures in revenue collection, planning, financial management, reporting and monitoring to reduce unnecessary financial losses, maximize national resources, and ensure regular reporting to inform the general public and key stakeholders of progress.

The PMRC Executive Director says in view of the possible social impact that would come with hiving off SOE’s including retrenchments, her organization strongly believes that despite the various challenges faced by SOE’s, Government must not hive off state owned enterprises.