Good Governance Award. One of my correspondents has sent me the following note which I publish as a guest editorial.
This week's coveted Good Governance Award goes to Timothy Hodge.
You will be pleased to know that the all-new Social Security website is up and running,
and the first of the core values is Accountability. You can read about it here. No, I'm not making this stuff up!
They have solved the problem with the annual report that had the numbers removed. The entire annual report section of the website has been removed. Problem solved. Try it here.
Let me say that I am happy to see that some work, no matter how inadequate, is being done on the Social Security website. A lot of vital information is missing. We still want to know who are the various Board members. What are their salaries? How much money has Social Security been receiving year by year in contributions? How much comes from investments? How much is being spent on benefits? How much on administration? How much on “social investments”. We are particularly worried about how much, if any, might be “lent” to well-meaning and high-sounding government projects. Governments of our region love to raid social security funds. The Boards of Directors in some islands, being political appointees, are complicit in this misuse of our funds. Is this happening to us?
It is most unsatisfactory to be invited to search for the annual reports and to find only " The requested URL /annualreports.htm was not found on this server."
Come on, Tim, where is the meat?
Accountability has been deleted from Anguilla island vocabulary, who is responsible for when public officers owe people money and they dont pay them back but threaten them Someone told me that a police officer once lend money from them and then threaten him, what happen to immigration officers who borrow money from people and they do not not pay them back to support their dirty habits. Tell me do committees check up on immigration officers with bad habits like womanizing and gambling? This is serious and very serious. Can someone tell meWho is watching the cookie?
ReplyDelete"A statesman knows that the people must control government. A politician believes that government should control people."
ReplyDelete--Colville Petty
"When it comes to accounting for Government of Anguilla Finances, the Government has taken the concept and implementation of prudence, transparency, accountability and the private/public sector marriage to new heights."
ReplyDelete--Budget Address, 2005
Finally, ANguillians are now asking the real questions of Department Heads and Board Members. For too long people have been glorifying their positions with too much fluff, while the the real facts about performance are left unanswered. Perhaps that's why the politicians get blame for everything.
ReplyDeleteI agree that politicians get a lot of blame innocently for the things that some civil servants do, but sometimes they put people in some positions to cut their back when they get the job. A lot of heads of departments should not be in those positions, and they are not functioning neither is their staff. The automatic pilot is on.The Deputy Governor should have a serious look at the civil servants.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how come in past days going to government offices when Marge, Venice, Lucia, Marie, Countess and even Rushie worked as clerks it was a pleasure? They showed such professionalism. Now a days, going to a government office is an insult and a bother. Such disrespect. What is wrong now? Some Department heads are just the same. They care only about nepotism and show no control. People used to go to work on time, the boss was always present, and they talk to their staff about what was expected. Now some department heads do not care about standards. They only care about the fluff and their prestige. A lot of them do not deserve to be heads. They lack leadership skills. They have plunged their departments into the rut. I would not name them now, but they are the most essential departments, the life blood of the country.
ReplyDeleteThe heads of department should be shifted around, It is alarming to hear what goes on in some departments. Can these people be really managers and act like they do not care about what is happening, what it is that they accept these jobs for style, but in everything in life you are graded based on your performance.
ReplyDeleteits really going to be challenging to see what will happen to this country in a few years time, maybe this was predicted to happen, anguilla is spinning out of control, morally spiritually and financially
ReplyDelete