Efforts should be made to reduce political influence on various boards of directors in the Cayman Islands.
That recommendation was made in a recent report from the Commission of Enquiry held here in January.
Commissioner of Enquiry Sir Richard Tucker questioned not only the past practice of allowing government ministers to serve as chairmen of these boards; he also addressed the influence ministers exert over their appointed board members.
‘If… the non-executive directors (of appointed boards) feel that they must ‘support the minister’ who appointed them, with the result that they are reluctant to bring their own skills, expertise and judgment to bear upon the matters at hand, the board of directors of the statutory authorities and government companies will serve little useful purpose,’ Sir Richard wrote in the commission’s report.
The ruling People’s Progressive Movement announced some time ago that it would not allow Cabinet ministers to serve as chairmen of boards and has abided by that policy.
However, Commissioner Tucker pointed out that there is nothing in current law that would prevent successive governments from reverting to the former practice of allowing ministers who dictate policy to then lead the boards which carry those policy directives through.
An amended private member’s motion to that effect was passed in the Legislative Assembly last year but thus far no supporting bills have been offered.
‘The point is well illustrated by what may have happened at the meeting of the board of directors of the Port Authority on 30 April, 2004 when both the minister (McKeeva Bush) and the permanent secretary (Charles Clifford) were members of the board,’ Mr. Tucker wrote. ‘Mr. Clifford said that he saw it as the permanent secretary’s duty to ‘support his minister’ which meant he could not be seen by the other board members to disagree with the minister.’
Mr. Clifford was later accused by Mr. Bush of improperly removing files related to the Port Authority, Cayman Turtle Farm and other agencies before he resigned from the civil service in July 2004. Mr. Tucker’s enquiry into that complaint found Mr. Clifford had no right to remove those files.
However, Mr. Tucker said one of the ultimate conclusions of this review was that appointed board members need greater protection from political interference.
‘This could be achieved by providing for fixed term, three-year appointments with a rotation, so that only a minority of directors would be changed following a change of government,’ he noted in the commission’s report. ‘Traditionally, the non-executive directors of most statutory authorities and government companies… are political appointees who are expected to resign or be replaced en masse in the event of a change of government.’
Long-time political observers in the Cayman Islands said the board selection process needs to change from the current model which essentially allows the election victor the spoils.
‘The commissioner is 1,000 per cent correct,’ said Billy Adam of the People for Referendum group. ‘The Cayman Islands’ highly politicised board appointment procedure and day-to-day operations are grossly defective.’
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