WE SHARE Portia Simpson Miller's sense of urgency in wishing to eliminate corruption in general and in the operation of public boards in particular. But we are concerned about the mandate given by the PM to her Cabinet that a pastor should be appointed to all boards either as chairman or as a member. We understand the Prime Minister's feeling that such a move will ensure probity but feel obliged to point out that this does not necessarily follow.
Public boards are supposed to perform the same functions as boards of directors in the private sector, directors who under the new Companies Act are held to a very high level of accountability and skill. Some churchmen by virtue of having mastered the management of a large religious organisation or training in areas other than theology may have the requisite directorial skills, but it is the skill and experience of the nominees rather than their pastoring per se which should be the criteria for appointment. Symbolic appointments to boards, like the recent placing of a student from the University of the West Indies on the Board of Air Jamaica, are empty gestures which bring the whole process into disrepute.
Jamaica has had competent ministers of religion as board chairmen, such as C. Evans Bailey who served at Radio Jamaica for many years, and we have also had boards with well-respected pastors as members who did not seem to carry out their oversight responsibilities as well as they should.
That aside, there are competent well-trained lay persons of integrity who can bring the necessary probity to the management of boards that the Prime Minister and the wider society want. A better route to pursue, we suggest, is to draw from the broad pool of civil society, people who have no partisan axe to grind and who understand their role and responsibility to the country.
We understand and accept that there is need in Jamaica for a moral reawakening and that the churches can play a vital role in this. But the Prime Minister needs to be careful how closely she aligns governance with religion. U.S. President Bush has exploited religion for political gain, and this in a country whose Constitution calls for a strict separation between Church and State. Prayer can be effective but private visions can be suspect. The Prime Minister needs to be careful not to cross the line.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
