Accra, May 19, GNA – Mr Bice Osei Kufuor, Managing Director, Ghana Post Company Limited has appealed to the Government to scale up the volume of business with the company to make it profitable and self-sustaining.
At a meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House, Accra, on Wednesday, he suggested that government made it a policy decision to channel state postal business to Ghana Post to enable the entity stand on its feet,
Mr Kufuor who was accompanied by the top management and Board of the company, disclosed that Ghana Post currently had a legacy debt of over GHC40 million that was posing a great challenge to the liquidity of the establishment.
However, with adequate government support, the company will be profitable and pay dividends to the state, he pointed out, explaining that rival private and international courier service providers currently served most of the postal needs of the government, depriving Ghana Post of revenue that could overhaul its operations.
According to the Managing Director, the government business accounted for only three percent of the company’s revenue, which was in stark contrast to its counterparts elsewhere who raised between 45 to 80 percent of their revenues from their governments.
“We have studied post services and post administrations around the world. We have studied the one of Kenya, the one of Egypt, the one of Japan.
“Because of the transformation and digitization era, every organization goes through a certain change. Postal services is also going through the changes but it needs a certain core business, a certain base to thrive on so that it can propel its growth.
“It is our major plea that a certain government policy direction can come to our aid so that the post office can continue servicing itself, pay its staff and not rely on government for capital injection,” he said.
Mr Kufuor told the President that the company is strategically poised to handle all government, and several other businesses to enable the state derive value from the entity.
“We are currently doing agency banking; we are doing ware housing and haulage all these are part of the businesses the new post office is doing.
“We want to make the organization profitable on its own. We have the ability,” he said.
On his part, President Akufo-Addo said the proposal for government to yield a greater part of its postal and courier requirements to Ghana Post was a plausible suggestion.
“The consolidation of government business in the Ghana Post is something that is clearly feasible.
“It makes sense to me that instead of government paying private sector operators to do this necessary business, then it should pay a public sector agency which it owns and controls to do the same business if the capacity is there” he said, adding that the government would consider the decision.
The President directed the sector minister to engage the Ghana Post and initiate steps that would enable government to increase its business volumes with the company,
He urged the board and management of the company to work to make the company’s service efficient and deliver value to the state, and pledged government’s support to help the revitalization effort of the company.
GNA