Proposed Water Authority must be independent without going rogue
Minister of Health Marlon Penn said the government must ensure the newly proposed Water & Sewerage Authority is independent of any political body when it becomes established.
Penn, who was contributing to the recent House of Assembly debate on the bill seeking to make the Water and Sewerage Department a statutory body, said there were some aspects of the bill that concerned him.
One such aspect was about ministerial powers. He said proper regulations must be put in place to guide the extent of these powers.
“These initiatives have to be national initiatives. They must transcend the political class and any political leadership because they are of national interest and of the national good. So, I think we have to be careful the level of power and authority we give the minister in terms of involvement in the details of the running of the organisation,” Penn stated.
“We have to be careful that we don’t create an entity … [whereby] you have a rogue minister that comes into office and messes and interferes with the progress of this particular entity,” he added.
“We also have to ensure that the survival of this is not dependent on any political entity. There needs to be a level of independence in the authority for it to function. [The] FSC (Financial Services Commission) was able to function the way it did because it had it a level of independence in the way it functioned. You put proper leadership in place, you put the elements for it to be successful, and you allow these entities to work and then [allow] these entities to function,” Penn further said.
The Authority must not be made to go rogue either
The Health Minister, however, noted that proper checks and balances must be effected to ensure the Water & Sewerage Authority does not become a rogue entity that does as it pleases and does not follow the policy direction of the territory.
“We have a national development vision for water as a territory … So, we have a lot of work to do ahead of this debate. I believe that we must pay keen attention to the legislative framework,” he said.
“I think the suggestion made by the Leader of Opposition in terms of some type of clear roadmap or some clear vision if it doesn’t already exist, must be paramount in the establishment of this entity. And how we move forward,” Penn continued.
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Senior Civil servants must be able to carry out the mandate of their job description with out fear of being fired , or manipulated by Politicians. I agree that is why we are in this sh..t as a territory
What about your district NHI and the F..king hospital they are in a mess water works is KYe’s department. You is another one who have not come up to the Linguist. After your first term you have been going backwards.
The people are fedup. You all young people have all the talk when you on the sidelines and went put in the fire you can’t do jack. What is your plan for your district and your ministries especially our hospital to stabilize them.
Yo 4get deh garbage?
Like the wind blowing the Tradewinds; so too is Mr. Obvious. These ‘ministers’ all over the place spouting sh!te to anyone whom would listen to their vile words. Every minister to date have interfered with any and everything done in government for their own selfish gains. Effective management teams without interference from boards and politicians must be required to stop the unsustainable level in which these authorities are being ran. Revenue streams need to be analyzed and the waste removed before any tangible benefits can be derived. We can have the best and brightest engineers, doctors and top of the line equipment; however poor management and utilization of these assets (human & equipment) results in the current state of ALL BVI infrastructure.
Start with the root cause of these issues – political interference and inadequate funding in most areas! Not an easy battle but change must start now!
I’m sure it’s no different than what was written for BVIEC. Does the Minister believe that BVIEC has gone rogue?
This one needs to STFU and mind his business, fixing NHI and the hospital. I already know that making water and sewage a statutory body is a huge mistake. Tell me something I don’t know
He thinks board is the answer for everything. “He finding all kind of creative ways to full his cronies pockets with tax payers monies” Managers and directors are getting paid to perform. If they are not change them..At this stage and age we have to be in line at water dept to pay our bills. Why is online payment taking so long?.