Phillips: Open state boards to public
Published:Friday | January 25, 2019 | 12:15 AM
Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips has proposed opening up public-sector board appointments to the wider society as a means of stamping out corruption.
Arguing that many jurisdictions advertise some, if not all, board vacancies, Phillips asserted that it was not beyond Jamaica to implement a mechanism whereby members of the public with the requisite skills could apply.
Phillips, in his address to the Jamaica Stock Exchange Conference held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel yesterday, indicated, too, that the Public Service Commission could vet applications and appoint persons with the appropriate expertise and competence to sit on public boards. This, he said, would insulate public boards from political influence and gamesmanship.
“This would enhance confidence, and, at the same time, would allow what is a recognisable small population to marshal the best resources that the country has to give service in these areas,” said Phillips.
MARSHAL ALL TALENTS
“I have always said, nation building is not for governments, nation building is for governments. Nation building is for the nation to participate in, and we have to marshal all the talents of our small nation in order to make the advances that we seek,” Phillips added.
Speaking more broadly on public-sector reform, Phillips had earlier noted that there was need to review the fiscal-responsibility framework entrenched in law and the nine per cent wage-to-gross domestic-product (GDP) target.
“While it is the case that public-sector expenditures have to be brought in line with available resources, the fact is, we have not been able to meet that nine per cent wage-to-GDP target,” said Phillips,
“It is probably better to have it stated in the law as a particular range,” he added, arguing that the precise wage-to-GDP target is only likely to be honoured in the breach.
The opposition leader stated that public-sector reform is still very relevant but argued that the focus and objective have to be appropriate to drive the development Jamaica needs and to access the best expertise.
“We need to ensure that we focus on the real issues. The preoccupation with cost-cutting, while it has some validity, should not be a be-all and end-all. We need, most of all, to have the fixity of purpose and the collaborative instinct and determination to take the really difficult decisions as a country and deliver growth and good government to the country,” he contended.