NRA policy restricts individual instructions from politicians Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

The chairman of the board of directors of the National Roads Authority (NRA) said that, in order to further improve transparency and accountability, the NRA board made a decision in May 2022 clarifying who may generally give the NRA instructions.

The resolution, passed prior to the recent judgment involving the National Conservation Council, clarifies that where an individual politician has a request, this must be routed through the Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure so that the Ministry can issue the relevant directive. Following this, the NRA can consider the directive, along with any amendments to the existing strategic operational plan.

While the move may sound controversial at first, it was done to address a concern raised by the Office of the Auditor General about “ad-hoc” projects i.e., activities that were undertaken by the NRA, but were not necessarily spelled out in any strategic operational plan. In addition, the Office of the Auditor General pointed out that, over the years, over 80% of the NRA’s budget was spent near election dates.

“To prevent the reoccurrence of “ad-hoc” projects and a high volume of spending during periods of “election sensitivity”, the NRA board clarified the approach i.e., all NRA work must fall within the board approved strategic operational plan and any changes must be approved by the board or come via directives from the Ministry or Cabinet,” the NRA board chairman explained.

In connection with this, the NRA board chairman also said that the NRA board established a board communication policy to clarify the nature of communications in-between board meetings, including who is authorised to follow-up on the implementation of directives in-between board meetings.

In the absence of this policy, the NRA could face an issue where multiple parties are instructing the NRA… the risk of which is undermining directives and pushing the strategic operational plan off track.

The NRA board chairman explained further.

NewsAmericasNow.com