Last week the operations of the Barbados Transport Board came under the spotlight when Government went to the House of Assembly with a resolution to borrow $32 million from the National Insurance Scheme to help the national transport agency with its financing.
It was a chance for the parliamentarians to discuss the operations of the board, but more importantly for most people it was the first time they got to realize the precarious financial situation of the Transport Board.
That exercise exposed a number of wider serious issues which have been impacting on us regardless of which political party is in office. They are the matter of public reporting on the operations of state agencies and the need for wider public debate on the role and functions of these state-owned businesses.
Were it not for the need to go to the House of Assembly to seek legislative approval for funding, the public, which has a vested interest in these statutory corporations and Government-owned companies, is generally kept in the dark. It speaks to governance or lack thereof.
Too often it is only when a document is leaked, after a report from the Auditor General is laid in Parliament, or when there is some rumbling, usually by an opposing political party or by a trade union, that we get to hear about the seriousness of the situation at these parastatals. That should not be.
Some may argue that it is the role of the investigative journalists to dig and probe, but until there is legislation relating to freedom of information then the leaders of these organizations, both at the strategic and operation levels, will refuse to speak; others respond with gobbledygook; or simply ignore any request for information. They are not answerable to the public.
It is clear that the issue of transparency and accountability does not obtain at many state agencies. We hear of many of them filing annual reports in anything but a timely manner and we must ask if they seek to be in compliance with the rules and regulations governing their operations. Then there is the issue of the audit, both internal and external, and what comments are made and action taken.
Much the same way public companies must hold annual shareholder meetings in compliance with the Companies Act, then state-owned companies and statutory corporations must report, even if by way of Parliament. Taxpayers, as direct or indirect supporters of these agencies, need to know. That is required of good investor relations.
The turmoil in the business world, highlighted more so in recent years by the exposure of numerous scandals, all relating to greed and various types of malfeasance, makes it important that we hold our public agencies to a higher standard. They should not follow what obtains in the private sector, either the publicly owned companies or those privately held. State agencies must be leaders in good corporate governance.
