Readiness of VRA Hospitals SBU to Operate As a Stand-Alone Commercial Venture

Abstract

Restructuring in the energy sector of Ghana‟s economy is ongoing and Volta River Authority, a lead actor, is not an exception. The Authority intends to adopt public private partnership (PPP) vehicle to convert all non-power businesses (health, education, hospitality and transportation, local government administration of the Akosombo Township) into stand-alone commercial ventures. It therefore outlined the „BRAISE‟ strategy and tasked the Change Management Team to sensitize all staff on the process towards the New VRA. Using 150 respondents, mainly permanent employees, this study investigated readiness of the health services department, now VRA Hospitals Strategic Business Unit (SBU) to operate as a stand-alone commercial venture. We employed non-parametric sign test and descriptive statistic to analyze primary data gathered. The results show that there is enough evidence to suggest proportionate in-depth knowledge of „BRAISE‟ strategy among staff across the locations. However, the evidence suggest lack of staff support for the foreign direct investment (FDI) process. The results for infrastructure readiness has average mean of 4.5 (out of total score of 5) and standard deviation of 0.7. This suggest that the facilities are infrastructure ready to attract FDI. Further, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that staff are not dedicated and willing to do additional work. Since it is costly to attract FDI to execute PPP arrangement we encourage the Authority to ensure a good balance among infrastructure readiness and employees‟ commitment and willingness to do additional work. Government should educate public servants on the importance of FDI, how it will enhance their skills and make them more efficient and productive.