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Greater transparency in public sector

By Channa Kasturisinghe

State enterprises have spent billions of rupees of the people's money with little or no benefit to the citizens, and the government has embarked on a new drive to make these institutions more accountable.

As a first step the government has ordered all state enterprises to finalise accounts and present the books to parliament at the end of the calendar year to ensure greater transparency and good governance, Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya said yesterday.

Many state enterprises are badly run, and a large number have delayed presenting accounts to parliament. The Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprise, which examines the workings of these institutions, is currently looking at accounts, which are several years old, making remedial action mostly ineffective.

Minister Jayasuriya addressing Senior Managers of the state enterprises in Colombo said this move was necessary to address the issue of financial mismanagement and lack of transparency.

The Government has taken this decision as State-owned enterprises including statutory boards, commercial corporations, government owned business undertakings and companies have come under regular criticism during the past few years.

The minister addressing a seminar on 'Improving Governance in Public Enterprises' in Colombo yesterday said that delays in tabling annual reports and accounts to Parliament of these institutions was a major concern for the Government.

"There have been instances where there were no transparency and accountability in financial reporting and auditing of some of the public institutions. Our aim is to ensure good governance and make these institutions fully accountable to the people of this country," Minister Jayasuriya said.

He said that the Government would fully support the Auditor General and accounting officers and safeguard them in their efforts to improve accounting standards of these institutions.

"Billions of rupees that have been advanced to some of these public institutions have not been properly utilised for the benefit of the people.

The Government needs the support of leaders of all these institutions for improving the governance of these institutions. On the part of the Government we have the political will to achieve this goal," the Minister said.

He said that the Government would also ensure that public enterprises were given managerial and commercial freedom to operate, which are essential features of good governance.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that several State Corporations including the CWE were sustained during the last few years by unrestricted borrowing and the loans so obtained were directly or indirectly recovered from the people.

"Today we are specifically discussing corporate governance in Public Enterprises. The responsibility of improving governance lies squarely with government. Ministers and government officials entrusted with the rights and responsibilities of ownership of public enterprises must exercise such rights and responsibilities in an accountable and transparent manner, in good faith and in the best interests of the enterprise and the public," Minister Karunanayake said. 

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