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The dissolution of the Board of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation

Dec 22, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The non-renewal of the Board of Directors of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation may result in greater political influence over the management of the institution, the very thing that the incorporation of the hospital as a corporate body aggregate was intended to avoid.
The life of the Board of the Hospital expired on November 30, 2016. The Board had only been appointed for one year. Instead of renewing that mandate, the government has dissolved the Board. There has been no report in the media or any public announcement otherwise that a new Board has been constituted or appointed.
It is not unusual for the Board to be allowed to continue until such a time as a new Board is appointed where the life of a Board comes to an end. In the case of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, the life of the Board was not extended and the Chairperson was thanked for his service. The first Board for the hospital of the new APNU+AFC government was not given more than a year. The question is why.
It is now public knowledge that the relations between the Chairperson of the Board and the Minister of Health were not the best. He has effectively been removed. He was thanked for his services and therefore is not likely to be returned.
The fate of the other members of the Board is not known but they should refuse, given the manner in which they were treated, to sit again on any Board of that hospital.
The purpose of establishing a government corporation is to free that institution of political control by the Minister or by the ministry. The day to day management of the hospital is supposed to be carried out by a Chief Executive Officer who reports to the Board which is appointed by the government. Where there is a body corporate, administrative decisions are taken by a CEO and policy decisions are made by the Board.
Cabinet has been a meddler in the affairs of the Board. Cabinet in the past has sought to grant its approval for contracts entered into by the hospital. And the present Cabinet has opted to order certain actions in relation to the Chief Executive Officer of that hospital. Cabinet should have no such role. It should try to dictate the tenure of any CEO. This is the sole responsibility of the Board of Directors.
This is what makes ominous the decision of the government to terminate the life of the Board of the hospital. Faced with a Chairman who was prepared to defend his statutory responsibility, the Ministry of Health found itself in public spats with the Board Chairman and the unthinkable decision of Cabinet taking decisions which are the rightful remit of the Board.
The developments of the hospital are an indication that the APNU+AFC has an obsession with control. They wish to dominate that institution and to dictate who becomes the Chief Executive Officer, which is the function of the Board.
There is obviously a political favourite for the position.
APNU has made changes in almost every government agency since it came to power. Some of the changes have been sweeping, others have been more measured. But nothing is as ominous as what has happened as the GPHC where there was constant friction between the CEO and the Minister of Health.
Those professionals and other persons from civil society who have accepted positions on Boards of public corporations should carefully consider their future involvement with the APNU+AFC administration in light how the Board of the GPHC was dissolved.
If the government is obsessed with political control, then there can be no place for professionals and for the involvement of civil society. It is time for good men and women to withdraw from any involvement on government Boards as a means of protecting their credibility and integrity.

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