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Ensuring proper Board composition

Jul 30, 2015 Editorial

The Government of Guyana has moved relatively swiftly to fill the positions of directors in several statutory bodies and Government companies. This move is to be commended as it fills the lacuna caused by the questionable suspension by Cabinet of the functioning of a number of Boards. We know of at least one case where the management took advantage of the situation to make payments to themselves. Ensuring that each entity and company is properly constituted is one of the first steps in ensuring good governance.
A second is to ensure that the persons appointed are of the right calibre: qualified, competent and independent. A review of the Official Gazette publicising the appointments shows that the overwhelming number of appointees are non-partisan and are independent professionals. In a number of the appointments, provision is made for a nominated representative of the PPP/C which shows some degree of inclusivity, although political considerations should not weigh too heavily in Board appointments.
On this score the GuySuCo Board is instructive. Mr. Seepaul Narine of GAWU has been appointed to the Board in his capacity as GAWU General Secretary. Among the appointees too is Mr. Adrian Anamayah, who was on the PPP/C list of candidates in the last elections. And there is a separate place for a nominated representative of the PPP/C. The PPP/C then can hardly complain of any exclusion from the Board.
Third, the appointments must be made in accordance with the law. That means that for statutory bodies the appointments should be made under the relevant Act such as the Public Corporations Act, the Gold Board Act, etc., or the company’s constitution and the Companies Act in the case of Government Companies. In the case of companies the appointing bodies are the members acting through general meetings. Any other manner will be unlawful, or as lawyers like to say, ultra vires.
Publication through the Official Gazette is good, but is not a substitute for a members’ meeting. That needs to be done as soon as possible to avoid any challenge of impropriety.
Fourth, the governing body of any entity must reflect in some measure its own stakeholders. For example, in the case of the Guyana Marketing Board, some representation of the farmers and suppliers would be most desirable. The same would hold true for the Guyana Rice Development Board. One of the shocking failures of these appointments is the shameful under representation of women. It is worth noting that of the thirty-six entities for which appointments were published, only three of them have a woman chairperson. This is completely unacceptable and should be corrected urgently.
Fifth, the governing body should possess some of the skills critical to the entity and its operations. In certain cases, just having access to those skills is not enough. Where construction and engineering are important, a professionally qualified engineer is important. Since finance is such an important aspect of an entity, someone with accounting and financial expertise can be valuable.
Sixth, there must be no conflict of interest and here the mere opportunity for conflict should rule out an appointment. It is a matter of some surprise that these persons would have accepted the appointment in the first place. They must now decline.
We have too serious problems with the seventh issue and that is the role of Ministers and politicians in these entities. Shockingly, in the case of NICIL, Cabinet has persisted with the model whereby the Minister of Finance is the Chairman of the Board and the Head of the Ministry of the Presidency is a member. In other words, Ashni Singh and Roger Luncheon have been exchanged for Winston Jordan and Joseph Harmon.
This newspaper had complained bitterly about that culture with the PPP/C. It was unacceptable now as it was unacceptable then.
While we welcome the constituting of all Boards, there is extreme concern about the underlying philosophy which guided the appointments.

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