Finance Ministry Awaits Draft Regulations for Appointment to Public Bodies

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says the Ministry is awaiting the Chief Parliamentary Counsel’s (CPC) submission of draft regulations incorporating guidelines for the appointment of Boards of Public Bodies.

“Before long, I expect the CPC to produce the first draft… and once we have that, it will be tabled in Parliament for an affirmative response,” he said.

The Minister was speaking recently at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s (PSOJ) annual economic forum, held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

The guidelines, which were approved by Cabinet following a submission by Dr. Clarke, are in keeping with the Government’s undertaking to further strengthen the governance framework of statutory bodies, in order to improve the accountability and transparency of their operations.

They will afford anyone interested in serving on the Board of a statutory institution with the opportunity to do so, once they meet the stipulated minimum criteria, including expertise in the activities in which the public bodies are engaged.

Dr. Clarke said improving public bodies’ governance through a transparent and robust process for Board members’ nomination, selection and appointment, forms part of a programme of institutional reform that will strengthen the country’s resilience framework, “[which] is core to what we [Government] are doing in the pursuit of the country’s economic independence”.

Noting that good governance is key to economic resilience, he said in order for countries to make economic strides, governments must be prepared to take risks in the national interest.

“If governments take no risks… there is no reward to be gained in pursuit of goals such as economic independence and resilience,” the Minister added.

Dr. Clarke emphasised, however, that governments’ ability to take risks is inextricably linked to the level of trust that can be forged and developed between themselves and their nations.

“So, as the trust level between the people and the government increases, the ability of government to take calculated risks also increases… because with that trust will come the certain knowledge that the government is acting in the interest of the people… even if the risks don’t bear fruit,” he argued.