The Director General of the Internal Audit Agency, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, has explained why some State Owned Enterprises (SoEs) cannot be sold to private entities, despite challenges they are bedeviled with. He says some SoEs cannot be sold to private investors due to national security implications.Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, he said such enterprises provide critical services that cannot be left in private hands.

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“Some of these SoEs are critical, we cannot hand them over to private investors because of the national security implications of the work they do”“Can you imagine handing over ECG to a private investor, you may not know where the resources are coming from, handing over VRA to a private investor, handing over BUI to a private investor, handing over GRIDCO to a private investor, this is not to say some private investors are not critical,”

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he said on Tuesday.Dr Oduro added that even though some countries have succeeded in implementing this initiative, the level of security involved in the work may differ.“It will depend on the level of national security, because in our case if you hand it over and you get somebody from a certain country coming to get a certain amount in it, they will hold all of us hostage”, he said.

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However, CEO of Dalex Finance, Kenneth Thompson, had a different view.He described Dr Oduro Osae’s argument as based on emotions.According to him, if the developed countries have tried it and succeeded, Ghana can imitate.“Are we more intelligent than some other countries?  I mean their modules have worked let’s learn from it,” Mr Thompson indicated.

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About a week ago, the Minister for Public Enterprises in Ghana, Joseph Cudjoe announced that 12 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have been submitted to cabinet for approval to be sold to private investors.

initiative is part of the government’s plan to restructure the economy, by making the SoEs more efficient, profitable and less of a drain on public resources.Source: Myjoyonline

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