Editorial | NaRRA needs further review

The Gleaner remains concerned about the continued absence of a robust and independent legislated governance framework for the agency that will oversee Jamaica’s post-hurricane reconstruction.

The proposed National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) will have not only the largest public works budget in Jamaica’s history but the authority to essentially by-pass regulatory systems to get things done with urgency. That insists that it should be managed with care.

Given all that is at stake, and the potential for things to go awry, NaRRA must, therefore, not be allowed to begin its life faced with public unease and disquiet, which weakens trust. Prime Minister Andrew Holness should, therefore, suspend debate on the bill, allowing for additional, and deeper, reflection on the legislation, including the inputs of a wider range of stakeholders so as to correct its flaws. The bill should be referred to a joint-select committee of Parliament for a time-bound review, including submissions by groups with interests in the matter.

For the avoidance of doubt, this newspaper embraces the institutional concept of NaRRA as a special-purpose vehicle to lead resilient reconstruction, especially in western Jamaica, from the destruction left by Hurricane Melissa in October. The direct damage by the Category 5 storm was estimated at US$8.6 billion, or around 42 per cent of the island’s GDP. When other economic costs are factored in, the hurricane’s bill was over half of GDP.

GREATER RESILIENCE

As the hurricane made clear, given the ongoing threats from global warming and climate change, Jamaica has to rebuild with greater resilience.

As The Gleaner said when the initial version of the NaRRA bill was tabled in Parliament, it got some things right. However, especially with respect to governance, yawning deficiencies of the first go are repeated in the second. Structurally and operationally, NaRRA. as proposed. remains too CEO-centric and with authority too concentrated in the hands of the top executive and the prime minister and Cabinet and without legally binding, independent oversight.

This structure may indeed allow the CEO, with limited restraints, to move with urgency on the agenda established by the Cabinet. Or as Dr Holness framed it in his parliamentary remarks: “When you have diffused accountability, when no single person is clearly and unambiguously responsible for results, the intent of every institution is to protect process rather than deliver outcomes.”

But as much evidence as there is that overly bureaucratic regimes can stifle initiative and slow implementation, there are equal, and more, documented cases that weak or lax systems undermine accountability, leading to inefficiency and corruption. Jamaica’s long history with this problem insists upon robust, effective, and legal - though not stifling - oversight.

In that regard, the Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC), announced by the Government as an advisory body to NaRRA, is far from sufficient. JAMRROC, as this newspaper and others have highlighted, appears nowhere in the legislation - neither in the regular sections nor in its schedules.

Neither is it enough to equate JAMMROC’s planned advisory role with that of the former Economic Policy Oversight Committee (EPOC), which, using central bank and central government data, monitored, and reported on, Jamaica’s adherence to the macroeconomic reform programmes under its 2010s agreements with the International Monetary Fund.

CONCERNED

EPOC was concerned with the Government’s broad compliance with agreed macroeconomic policies and their outcomes, This is is now about the nitty-gritty of adherence to procurement systems and the award of contracts by an agency that over the next five years, will oversee the expenditure of upwards of US$10 billion. That oversight of management in such circumstances is usually the responsibility of boards of governance that have legally bound fiduciary responsibilities and a duty of care to the owners and shareholders of companies. In this case, the owner/shareholders are the taxpayers of Jamaica.

Without formal legal status, JAMMROC will exist solely at the pleasure of the minister, who, without hindrance, can cause it to founder or atrophy. This is not to suggest that a minister will be inclined to do that. However, good governance prescribes that such matters not be left to the decency or good nature of individuals. Systems are important.

Wariness about the absence of hardened, independent, and external oversight of NaRRA is exacerbated by the fact that its CEO, who “shall act on behalf of the authority” as well as have responsibility for “the day-to-day management” of the institution, will be appointed by the prime minister and be accountable to him or to a minister designated by the PM.

What this suggests is that after the Cabinet sets NaRRA’s work programme, power, fundamentally, is concentrated in the hands of the CEO and the prime minister, to whom she or he will report.

Section 7(1) of the bill gives the power to “appoint a committee to examine and report to the minister on any matter arising out of or connected with any of the authority’s powers and duties”. This, however, is not the same as having an independent board of governance for what, essentially, will be a statutory body, which will have a great amount of power and mountains of money.

The Gleaner also remains concerned about the lack of limit on the projects NaRRA can be assigned, making a potential catchall for the Government. Perhaps the new Urban Development Corporation!