OnS econoCmǣ Fyofcirusst

MANZINI – Government should be all eyes on and hands off!

The end goal of the reforms according to Eswatini Economic Policy Analysis and Research Centre (ESEPARC) when the parastatals are merged to about 31 should put the economy first.

Government has since commenced the reforming of six parastatals which altogether have a staff turn-over of 400. In its study, ESEPARC stated that even if an entity was profitable, there could still be economic reason to consolidate it. It stated that this exercise was necessary in order to resuscitate the economy and improve the fiscal space for funding social and economic development.

Development

It highlighted that there was a need to avoid and or stop monetised mandates but focus on government’s core business – its development mandate.

“The enterprises need to chase development instead of chasing profits. The SOEs are an extension of central government; they are specialised semi-autonomous departments that are implementing government’s development agenda in a flexible and agile manner,” it reads in part.

ESERPAC reported that the issue of human deployment in these parastatals also needed rationalisation as the PEU Act has created another central government within these SOEs, starting at Board level down to the operations of the individual public entities. It reported that some parastatals could actually be run by two people, yet the way they function has resulted in top-heavy administration that was basically now an employment creator rather than a means for highly specialised and effective service delivery.

Implement

On the one hand, ESERPAC reported that these SOEs were expected to implement their commercial function while being locked into a box by the super-structures or super Boards government which were created to control the SOEs such as SCOPE.

“The PEU should be able to monitor the performance of the chief executive officers (CEOs) and put the parastatals to task on all the agreed deliverables. A one-size-fits-all approach in monitoring and supervising the performance of the SOEs is not sustainable nor yielding the desired outcomes. The current process of governance is not sustainable,” reads the report. ESERPAC reported in its study that central government should focus on the legislative function as there were notable conflicts between parent or line ministries and some parastatals. It advised government that it needed to rationalise the existence of all parastatals against the functions of each ministry entity to avoid duplication. It was said functions implemented by the parastatals should cease to exist within the line ministry and the resource allocation should represent this change and this could result to a lot of savings being made; but even more importantly, a lot of value can be created through proper streamlining of these parastatals.