The audit report showing parastatals operate on negative capital is accurate, but I’m not sure privatising them is the best way forward.
I believe these parastatals are structurally set up to fail by the very power barons who then turn around to lament the institutions are an eyesore that should be sold off.
The best intervention is to do what the private sector does to revamp productivity and put them on the path of profitability.
First, let’s interrogate how these institutions are led and how their top brass is appointed.
The boards and executives are not put in place on merit, and political meddling is the order of the day.
You cannot bring political appointees and cronies with no known competency and qualification to turn around some of these beleaguered institutions.
Also, politicians use them as cash cows for campaigns and tenders.
For example, I have never understood how KICC makes losses, yet the government is its main permanent client.
When we in the civil society go to book at KICC, we are often told it has been fully booked for months by the government.
Is the government saying it gets the services of KICC but does not pay up?
Privatising the entities, a process which may see the companies ending up in the hands of foreigners is not in the best interest of the country.
The expatriates who may end up buying the parastatals come with their cost-cutting measures, including mass layoffs, creating unemployment.
Whatever money they make they send back to their countries. Yet, we want to have the resources ploughed back into the economy for the benefit of our people.
We cannot auction the assets built by the sweat of our people simply because a few elements appointed to manage them are not doing their job properly.
I suggest the management of these institutions be overhauled. Headhunt or competitively recruit managers who have a credible track record. Pay them well and mandate them to do their job without political meddling.
The veteran activist spoke
to Star
