Rekha enjoys a conflict of interest

Nov 13, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
While the spotlight at the moment is focused on an extant conflict of interest within the Office of the Auditor General, there is a far more glaring example which seems to have evaded notice. Just recently, Cabinet appointed the Finance Secretary, formerly the Secretary to the Treasury, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. This appointment represents a conflict of interest.
Firstly, the Finance Secretary is the de facto accounting officer for the Treasury. By virtue of the powers vested in him, it is under his commission that subventions and allocations are given to government agencies and corporations. Thus he is directly responsible for determining, influencing and issuing the budgetary allocations made to the Georgetown Public Hospital of which he is now Chairman of the Board.
This places him in the invidious position of being the master of the funds which he as Finance Secretary allocates to the hospital.
Secondly, he is ultimately accountable to parliament for the use of these funds by budget and subvention agencies. As such his position as Chairman of the Board puts him in a position of double jeopardy, being accountable firstly to himself for the public funds used by the hospital and then as Finance Secretary being accountable to the National Assembly.
Thirdly, as Chairman of the Board of the hospital he is required to ensure that the resources that are provided by the Treasury, of which he is also the head, are properly used and accounted for. But as Finance Secretary he holds financial oversight over the use of these very funds. Thus he is both the watchman for the hospital and for the treasury in relation to the allocations made by the government to the hospital.
Fourthly, it is public record that the Finance Secretary sets financial rules and regulations via financial circulars. These circulars define the financial procedures to be employed in relation to the use of public funds.
He has the power, also, to demand that proper records be maintained in relation to the receipt and expenditure of public monies. This conflicts with his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgetown Public Hospital where he may be called to ensure that the corporation which he heads is required to maintain records in accordance with standards that he himself has set.
I think the picture is clear.
The Finance Secretary cannot and should not be on any Board that is in receipt of public funds, more so one that receives almost all of its funding from the Treasury.
The appointment of Mr. Nirmal Rekha as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Georgetown Public Hospital represents the most glaring example of a conflict of interest. It is a misguided appointment that needs to be set right. The Public Accounts Committee should make this its first order of business at its next sitting.
Dillon Charles

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