Opinion: More government agencies should be independent Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

Readers are asked to note that Op-eds do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of Loop Cayman.

by ‘Freelancer’

I think Minister Sabrina Turner is on the right track with her ministry’s business case to separate Public Health from the Health Services Authority (HSA). In my opinion, other government agencies (and boards) should follow suit and, perhaps, go a step further and completely detach themselves from government. Doing so could lead to better governance and efficiency for these agencies.

How it would work

As a first step, government agencies must have full control over the appointment and removal of their boards of directors (including chairpersons).

Having the government in control of board appointments for agencies, for example, may lead to political appointees on boards carrying out the wishes of politicians rather than the clients of the agencies i.e., “we, the people”. Without this change, the likely outcome is that some of the policies executed by agencies may support the re-election of a politician more than they further the interests of the people.

Second, the boards of directors of government agencies should have the authority to hire and fire employees.

Currently, it is not possible for a board of directors to make suggestions about the hiring and firing of non-performing employees because a board’s powers are limited to the appointment and removal of the chief executive officer.

This restrictive power becomes complicated when chief executive officers know that there are non-performing employees but, for undisclosed reasons, the chief executive officers continue to keep the non-performing employees employed. As a consequence, poor-or-low quality customer service or other services may be delivered to the public, opening the relevant government agency to criticism about efficiency and poor delivery of services.

Third, to achieve real independence, government agencies must have full autonomy in respect of their finances.

Such self-determination will allow the relevant government agency to manage its own revenues and expenses, ensuring that it has sufficient funds available at all times for its operations without being compromised by political threats that less funding will be given if the agency does not comply with politically influenced processes.

To illustrate how politically influenced processes work, when government budgets get approved, some politicians engage in what can be best described as a “card game” where they determine how much each government agency will receive. Politicians with stronger poker faces get more money allocated to agencies falling under their portfolio, while those who may not be liked or who are not in the ruling government get less than what they may have expected to cover the relevant agency’s operations.

Rather than having to depend on allocations from a government budget, therefore, agencies should control their own revenues, including the setting of budgets to meet their operational needs. In other words, customers (i.e., the “people”) will become the priority rather than re-election or politics.

Reaction from public interest groups

The importance of the above has also been highlighted by public interest groups, including Sustainable Cayman.

Commenting on the need for independence, representatives from Sustainable Cayman said:

All to often, the need for all members of boards of government agencies to be seen as truly independent of political influences is subject to regular public scrutiny.

We urge for more transparency on our boards so that the decisions taken are in the public interest and truly reflective of all relevant laws and applying discretion as allowed only in exceptional circumstances, with appropriate checks and balances.

Decisions should not be the result of pressure from any politician or business, but must be fair honest and justly administered to all.

Some authorities follow good governance with televised meetings and documented meetings highlighting how decisions were taken. There is much improvement still that could be achieved together with strides to collaborate and standardise procedures and governance across the bodies.

To make any headway on Sustainable Cayman’s concerns, however, agencies must be willing to make adjustments to existing governance cultures.

Further, this must be supported by legislative changes, which, of course, require “political will” to initiate the process.

Legislative changes

Regarding legislative changes, the following would have to be done:

Amend Public Authorities Act to remove the power of the Cabinet to appoint or remove board members of agencies. Instead, job descriptions for board positions (including the chairperson) should be published and applicants should be interviewed by an independent governance committee for relevant postsRemove the power of the Cabinet to set terms for board member appointments, including remunerationDisallow the power of the Cabinet to allow a minister to directly issue strategic policy directions to government agency boards (this takes politics out of the equation and makes public interest paramount)Give boards full power over all aspects of the administration of agencies (including hiring and firing of employees at all levels and control over their own revenues and budgets)

Conclusion

In my opinion, a complete (or near full) detachment of government agencies from government would reflect true independence and would allow government agencies to act in the best interests of the public.

With this in place, board members of government agencies could act and decide on matters without fear of political repercussions for not carrying out the wishes of a particular politician or the Cabinet. Whether or not the government will actually consider such a theory, however, will be the most telling about the true position on the current mantra of independence and transparency.

NewsAmericasNow.com