Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke - file photo
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Dr. Nigel Clarke
Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke has acknowledged it could be challenging finding persons to serve on boards under the new rules regarding selection and operation of boards.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the Public Bodies Management and Accountability (Nomination, Selection and Appointment to Boards) Regulations in the wake of a string of controversies involving several public boards.
Dr. Clarke said a main thrust of the new rules is to find persons who are competent relevant to their respective boards and who will act with integrity.
"We will find instances where it is difficult, but life is difficult, right? It's difficult to do well, and because it's difficult, it doesn't mean that you shy away from it; you rise to the challenge and you find a way to meet it," he said optimistically.
Dr. Clarke noted that the new regulations will not be foolproof or solve all issues related to the management of public funds as it will still be dependent on the integrity of people.
"You still need good people to exercise good judgement. You can't legislate good people. But what this calls for is that it gives the force of law the requirement that the appointment to a board fulfills the competency requirement of that board."
The Finance Minister said he would not be against Opposition Leader Mark Golding's suggestion for a cap on the number of political appointees to the proposed database of persons who can be named to boards.
However, he said it is unfortunate the matter was not raised before.
"He would have had opportunities to look at this regulation before and he and I would have collaborated in the months before I brought it to Parliament the first time in December 2019, and that was never raised. But the fact that he didn't raise it earlier does not make it an invalid suggestion, and I would not be opposed to that suggestion at all. But the real issue is the issue of competence and that, I believe, is what we want more than anything else," noted Dr. Clarke.
He was speaking Wednesday evening on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines.
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