With governments in the region plagued by the practice of packing the Boards of state-run entities with their favoured political appointees, the present administration in Jamaica is moving to table regulations in the country’s National Assembly that will effectively de-politicise the Boards of public-sector bodies by, among other things, ensuring that a third of those appointed by a previous Minister or administration be carried over to a new Board.
“When you serve on a public Board, your role and function is not allegiance to a party or to the party that formed the Government when you were appointed. Instead, your allegiance is to the instrument of your appointment, the governance principles on which you were appointed and, by extension, to the people of Jamaica,” the island’s Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke said in making the disclosure recently that the Cabinet had approved the proposed changes in May.
“As such, transparency, diversity and continuity will be key watchwords regarding the appointment of future boards of public-sector bodies going forward,” the Minister is further quoted as saying.
