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The firing of the National Railways of Zimbabwe board chairperson highlights a problem in our governance structures.
According to the letter written to Engineer Alvord Mabena by Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo, the board chairperson was relieved of his duty as part of an exercise to realign the organisation’s strategic vision with that of parastatals and State institutions.
Eng Mabena seems to have no idea how he has failed to fit in with this new vision saying that when he met with the minister he was not apprised of his shortcomings.
We are not about to question the minister’s appraisal of Eng Mabena’s performance and we are sure that the decision was reached after fair assessment of facts on the ground. But the manner in which it has been done does not augur well for accountability.
The fact that a minister can just dismiss a whole board chairperson without outlining the deficiencies observed in that individual proves that there is too much power vested in ministers.
We believe that there should be changes to bring more transparency in how ministers appoint and fire board members. There should be oversight, perhaps of the parliamentary portfolio committees who could be involved in the interviewing of proposed candidates and would also take part in assessing whether or not the board has delivered on its mandate.
What criteria are the ministers using to appoint their boards? And does the vision of an organisation change drastically when a new minister is appointed? There are currently no hard and fast rules about ensuring that the right people get the job.
In general it appears that in many cases ministers’ emphasis is on the appointment of boards to head State enterprises and regulatory authorities instead of the ministries concentrating in ensuring that the core operations of the organisations are running smoothly.
The current system where board members owe their positions to the good grace of the minister leave too much room for corruption and bootlicking at the expense of delivery.
In many cases the appointment of a new minister often signifies shake-ups at the boards under that particular portfolio, but there is no resultant change in the organisation’s performance.
It is understandable that a leader in a new position should want a team that shares the same vision and is dedicated to bringing it to fruition. One would, therefore, expect the new brooms to sweep cleaner and turn around the fortunes of the organisation, improve the way it carries out its operations and ensure profitability and or efficiency.
But that has not appeared to be the case as rampant corruption and losses continue to dog most State institutions. Parastatals like the Grain Marketing Board, National Railways of Zimbabwe, CSC and Zimbabwe United Passenger Company, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Air Zimbabwe.
What is even more disturbing is that some ministers seem to transfer portfolios with their pet board members. The same faces are always appointed to boards in different ministries as though they are experts in all fields. This seems to give credence to accusations of nepotism and collusion between some ministers and their chosen board members.
The system has created an unending cycle of appointments and firings with no benefit for the State and the taxpayer. Zimbabwe has a high tax regime and one reason is that parastatals and State enterprises are not contributing to public coffers and are instead costing the Government.
Until corruption is rooted out from the top downwards the changing of faces on boards remains a ludicrous game of musical chairs while Government and the people remain the biggest losers.
Online Reporter