Motion calls for law governing after state companies
The second highest number of cases filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission pertain to state-owned companies.
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By
Mariyam Umna Ismail
A motion has been moved in parliament demanding enactment of a law to regulate and monitor State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb presented the first reading of the motion at Wednesday's parliament sitting.
Stating that the main objective of state-owned companies is to provide economic benefits to the state by engaging in business, profiting and providing quality service to the people as per the mandate given to such companies, Ilyas said in the resolution that the state-owned companies do not see it. Thus:
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The state is unable to achieve the real purpose of setting up such companies due to the poor governance of companies
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Adversely affecting economic growth and sustainable development
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The rise of corruption in companies poses a challenge to the state's efforts to promote integrity in governance
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To offset the losses incurred by the companies, the company's expenses in the form of working capital will also be covered by the state budget
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Some companies do not have a business development plan on how to expand and grow their business; so the capital released by the government is not utilised in the most appropriate way
Ilyas, who also heads the Parliament's Committee on State-owned Companies, said there was no legal framework to manage their finances effectively as state-owned companies were not required to comply with the State Finance Act. It is important for such companies to have a legal framework, Ilyas said:
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The second highest number of cases filed with the Anti-Corruption Commission pertain to state-owned companies and state-owned enterprises
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As many state-owned companies have no concrete rules in place to fund CSR, it is an open opportunity for the company's money to be used in a corrupt manner
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State-owned companies are entrusted with the task of executing projects due to non-compliance of rules and regulations, leading to various problems in the execution of the project, resulting in high cost of the state and delay in projects
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Departments/sections/units of some companies are being operated without any restrictions on recruitment as there is no cap on the number of employees
"Therefore, since it is important to have a law that can create, dissolve, regulate and monitor state-owned companies, we move the resolution under Section 167 of the Representation of the People Act, 2017, seeking that the necessary provisions be structured and arranged and carried out," Ilyas said.
