Heads of public enterprises apprised of laws governing their firms |02 August 2013

Chief executives, board chairpersons and finance officers of public enterprises met for a half-day forum yesterday to learn more about the laws and regulations that govern their operations.
They also learned more about their functions and discussed issues concerning them with the monitoring commission.

The forum, which took place at the Ephelia Constance resort at Port Launay, was launched by Finance, Trade and Investment Minister Pierre Laporte.

“The forum is a very important one as government takes the management of public enterprises very seriously be it from the financial, strategic and governance aspects. We all need to work together to ensure public  enterprises are run in an efficient and transparent manner because it is in fact the assets and funds belonging to our people that we are managing and we are accountable to them.  This is the most important thing we have to bear in mind,” said Minister Laporte.

He reminded those present that in the past, relations between the monitoring unit and the various enterprises were not always good at times and he is therefore urging all parties to make their present relations work for the benefit of our people.

The Public Enterprise Monitoring Act came into force in 2009 with the aim of improving transparency and governance which was at that time administered through a unit in the Ministry of Finance. But in line with new developments taking place in government operations, earlier this year the National Assembly approved new amendments to the Act which brought the monitoring of public enterprises under a new commission to further ensure a better level of management and good practices.

“The Public Enterprise Monitoring Commission (PEMC) should be seen as a partner in our effort to bring more accountability to the people,” Minister Laporte added.
In his last budget address, Minister Laporte made a commitment to improve the situation with regard to the accounts of several public enterprises.

He noted during his address yesterday that with help from the PEMC and the team from his ministry most public enterprises are now up to date with their accounts and added that by the end of the year all of them would be in order.

“This would be a very good message to send out to the people as it would prove that we are bringing about the necessary reporting standards adding that he will be closely following the situation to ensure all enterprises adhere to the guidelines and good practices.

Sitna Cesar, the chief executive of the PEMC, said emphasis is being placed on monitoring to ensure the accounts and financial reports received from the different enterprises are in order and that they are following all the necessary guidelines and remain profitable to sustain their own operations and contribute a dividend to government revenues.

Ms Cesar said the different public enterprises have to submit monthly and quarterly financial reports for the PEMC to analyse their progress and identify any shortcomings.

“So far the enterprises are cooperating well and the forum was an opportunity to meet all the key persons of the public enterprises to discuss various issues of mutual importance so as to further improve working relations between the parties,’’ added Ms Cesar.