Editorial | Beyond NaRRA’s CEO

As was recently promised by the information minister, Dana Morris Dixon, the government has advertised for a chief executive officer for the new agency that is to lead Jamaica’s reconstruction from Hurricane Melissa.

The CEO, according to the recruitment notice, is expected to be a visionary leader, who will “spearhead one of the most consequential initiatives in Jamaica’s history”. Which is true.

The Category-5 storm, Melissa, caused major destruction in the western third of the island last October. The damage to property and infrastructure has been estimated at US$8.6 billion, but is expected to rise. Indeed, in some instances, existing towns and settlements will have to be entirely rebuilt or relocated.

With a blend of its own resources and proposed funding from multilateral institutions, the government has identified US$6.7 billion for reconstruction, not counting the US$415 million in emergency balance of payments support that the International Monetary Fund announced for the island this month.

Given the scope of reconstruction, and the urgency of the exercise, as this newspaper proposed , and therefore supports, the use of a special purpose vehicle to execute the project. The existing state bureaucracy, hollowed out over decades, possesses, as we have said before, neither the institutional capacity nor the operational capacity to undertake anything this big efficiently, or quickly. That is to say, over the next five years.

TRANSPARENT OVERSIGHT

However, any institution or agency that will command the amount of taxpayers’ resources as will be under the control of what, eventually, is to be called the National Reconstruction of Resilience Authority (NaRRA) calls for far-reaching and transparent oversight of its operations. That is why The Gleaner, even at this stage, insists on specific timelines for the formal establishment of NaRRA into a statutory authority body and the operational procedures for the precursor department that is now in place.

Indeed, the advertisement for the CEO confirmed Dr Morris Dixon’s announcement a fortnight ago that the agency will start off as a department of government, reporting to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, via the Cabinet secretary. It is initially being the National Reconstruction and Resilience Department (NaRRD).

“The NaRRD will, in due course transition into the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority, as special purpose legislation is promulgated for its establishment,” the recruitment ad says.

There is perhaps logic to the initial halfway house arrangement. This newspaper’s concern is the lack of specificity in the phrase “in due course”, which means sometime in the future, or eventually.

The danger therein, although that is unlikely to be the intent of the administration, that the legislative and a clear, transparent oversight regime for the agency could be a dragged out affair, during which bad operational habits can creep in, to the cost and detriment of taxpayers.

DEFINITIVE TIMETABLE

Therefore, Prime Minister Holness should give a definitive, fast-tracked timetable, as previously suggested, for the government’s publication of a Green Paper and a draft bill for the NaRRA, upon which critical stakeholders, as well as the wider public, can comment.

Prime Minister Holness previously suggested that the NaRRA would have a broad-based board. Minister Morris Dixon suggested the National Partnership Council, a mostly ineffective talk-shop that meets sporadically, would have a role in its oversight. There is need for clarity around the planned accountability regime.

Notwithstanding any oversight board that might be put in place for the NaRRA’s day-to-day operations, this newspaper repeats its insistence on an active role for Parliament.

Put another way, the NaRRA legislation should specifically establish the agency as a quasi commission of Parliament, thereby requiring it to report periodically to the legislature, perhaps every three to four months.

The Act must require that Parliament establish a NaRRA Oversight Committee that is chaired by a member of the Opposition, with membership otherwise weighted in accordance with government and Opposition membership of the House.

In specific circumstances, the committee’s chairman should, apart from the prescribed sessions, be able to convene special meetings of the body, to which the leaders of the NaRRA are summoned to account for actions. The committee’s meetings should be public unless it is dealing with especially sensitive matters.

This level of transparency is not only appropriate for the amount of resources that will be at the disposal of the NaRRA, but is critical to building trust. It is unlikely to be achieved if the agency, for a prolonged period, operates as a department of government, reporting directly to the prime minister through the office of the Cabinet.