PSOJ warns against poor governance practices

The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) is urging the minister of finance and the public service to urgently facilitate the appointment of a fully qualified chairman of the board of the National Housing Trust (NHT).

In a news release yesterday, the PSOJ said that it had received reports that the housing entity appeared to be "in danger of drifting from its normally high standards of governance".

Allegations of impropriety

The private sector body said that it noted with disquiet an increasing number of allegations of impropriety in the affairs of statutory boards and what appeared to be a drift away from the emphasis on good governance, accountability, and transparency that was a welcome direction in recent times.

In its news release, the PSOJ said that it had previously reminded the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service as well as the Cabinet of the need to attend to the selection of appropriate and qualified members to some 52 government boards, which were due for appointment. According to the PSOJ, it had encouraged the new minister of finance and the public service to speedily attend to the rationalisation of the approximately 192 existing boards, "many of which could be characterised as dysfunctional or irrelevant to our current paradigm".

"We now renew that call in light of the disturbing questions that have been raised in Parliament regarding certain transactions and decisions that are alleged to have taken place under the purview of the board of Petrojam, as well as reports that have reached us regarding decisions taken by statutory boards that are in transition because of ministerial reassignments."