‘Symbolic manipulation’

A UNIVERSITY professor says job descriptions for members of parliament (MPs) in Jamaica are “useless” because of the Westminster system of government practised which cannot facilitate them.

“The MPs know this but they are in a political quagmire because they have oversold themselves to get elected but have underdelivered,” Professor Christopher Charles told The Gleaner yesterday.

His assessment comes days after Prime Minister Andrew Holness tabled job descriptions for MPs and Cabinet ministers in Parliament on Tuesday.

Among the responsibilities for the ministers are maintaining confidentiality of Cabinet matters; make decisions and determine government policies and priorities in keeping with assigned portfolio responsibilities; present to the prime minister and Cabinet, policy proposals for implementing agreed policies; direct heads of portfolio ministry/ies, departments and agencies on the mandate of the Government, its priorities and expected course of actions to facilitate implementation; and advise the governor general on portfolio matters as may be required from time to time.

For MPs, Holness is proposing for a joint select committee to deliberate issues such as punctuality and consistent attendance; participation in parliamentary debates on bills and motions, reports and other material under deliberation; completion and implementation of constituency development plans in accordance with the requirement of the Constituency Development Fund Office; the frequency of meetings held with constituents; and, among other things, documented use of public resources.

Charles, a professor in political and social psychology at the University of the West Indies, Mona, says MPs’ lack of performance occurs for two reasons that job descriptions cannot address.

The first, he said, is that in Parliament, there is the convention that MPs vote with their party and not their conscience.

“So this convention trumps the job description. If you vote against your party, you have no political future. Outside of Parliament, the MPs have to rely on the ministries to get things done. Job descriptions are useless here because most MPs have no control over what the government ministries do.

“The ministers who are MPs fare no better because they can’t hire and fire the civil servants who implement public policies,” he added.

The second reason, the professor argued, is that Jamaicans continue to elect large numbers of people “without the competence and integrity” to solve problems.

He said that it is for these reasons the job descriptions presented by Holness are “vague”.

“Creating job descriptions because of public pressure is symbolic manipulation where the documents become symbols [of] the politicians responding to the people to create mass acquiescence when the job descriptions are not worth the paper they are written on,” he said.

On the other hand, former president of the Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica, Michael McAnuff-Jones, said the Government is to be commended for speedily responding to the calls for clear outline of the responsibilities of ministers and MPs.

He said that the proposed job descriptions now put role definition beyond doubt and indicate a fair listing of deliverables.

“Because some targets will change from time to time, we understand the absence of definitive metrics. However, because the job descriptions provide a fair basis for the necessary development of metrics and a performance measurement scorecard — which are the things that are critical to deepening accountability — this next step is critical.

“Hopefully, the measurement scorecard will be completed as soon as possible to ensure MPs and ministers are fairly made aware of the key performance indicators represented in the scorecard, McAnuff-Jones said.

At the same time, he said that there are some opportunities for amendments, including ministers’ responsibilities for board appointments and the required performance standards.

He said given the imperative of “fitting” behaviour and relationship management for MPs and ministers as servants of the people, there is a clear opportunity for the required competencies to reflect a better balance between functional competencies and behavioural competencies.

“Unfortunately, the behavioural competencies are seven per cent and 20 per cent of required competencies for the MP and minister, respectively. The reference to respectful behaviour towards parliamentary colleagues, listed on the ministers’ job description, should also be included in the MPs JD, and both job descriptions need to additionally include respectful behaviour towards the citizenry as a key performance standard. A high weighting needs to be put on this in the performance measurement system,” McAnuff told The Gleaner on Tuesday.

He said a requirement needs to be included for the minister to ensure that adequate accountability is exercised for disciplinary action, recommendations and actions related to conduct and performance breaches in the ministry, departments and agencies.

Added to that, he said that a point should be included for ministers and MPs to adhere to codes of conduct and lead efforts to maintain strong vigilance against corruption.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com