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Temba Dube Senior Reporter
THE Government has come up with an appointment criterion for board members and chief executive officers of parastatals, state enterprises and local authorities as part of measures to weed out corruption and avoid a repeat of the salarygate scandal that is rocking the institutions.The measures, designed to plug loopholes through which corrupt officials may siphon cash and resources, were drawn up under a directive from President Mugabe on November 26.
The chairperson of the Cabinet Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatals Development, Patrick Chinamasa, said the measures were put in place to deal with the more complex issues of salaries, allowances and procurement practices of public enterprises and local authorities.
The move follows recent revelations of former ZBC boss Happison Muchechetere’s $40,000 monthly pay at a time when the technically insolvent State broadcaster’s workers had gone for six months without pay.
Premier Services Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) former group chief executive officer Cuthbert Dube earned close to $500,000 per month in salaries and allowances while the society was struggling to settle members’ medical claims.
The rot extends to Air Zimbabwe and a number of local authorities in the country.
Cde Chinamasa, who is also the Minister of Finance, said board members and CEO’s would now be given four-year contracts that are only renewable once.
He said public officials, including those at local authorities, would be put on performance based contracts.
“They would also have to declare their assets and sign a code of conduct upon appointment. They will declare their interests before commencement of discussion of any agenda item in which they have interest,” said Cde Chinamasa.
He said board members who did not qualify to hold their positions would not be tolerated.
“They should be selected on merit, based on a clearly defined capability matrix and skills mix, in areas such as legal, finance, marketing, audit, technical, human resources, strategic and economic planning. There should also be a 50:50 gender representation and regional spread must be factored into the selection of board members,” said Cde Chinamasa.
He said permanent secretaries had been barred from being members of public enterprise bodies and ministers should appoint qualified people to attend board meetings and brief the secretaries afterwards.
Cde Chinamasa said State Enterprises and parastatals should hold annual general meetings attended by government representatives from the office of the President and Cabinet, Treasury, the parent ministry, the Auditor and Comptroller General, and other stakeholder ministries.
“Further, no person shall sit on more than two boards of a public enterprise. Membership of a board of a public enterprise in an ex-officio capacity is not considered as relevant for purposes of this limitation,” he said.
Cde Chinamasa said all board members should undergo induction training and organisations should keep a database of potential board members, reflecting a regional spread, from which ministers can pick nominees for approval by President Mugabe, when the need arises.
Turning to CEOs, he said all decisions and their conditions of service should be made by a resolution from a properly constituted board meeting.
“The board and the minister must agree on the person specifications for the CEO position and proceed to invite, through a Press advertisement, applications to fill the position.
“Interviews will then be conducted by the board with the assistance of professional human resources consultants. The board will then submit three recommended appointees for the CEO position to the minister, in order of priority, who will then submit his recommended candidate to His Excellency, the President for his approval.”
He said the boards should evaluate the CEO on a quarterly basis and brief the line minister on the results. Cde Chinamasa said CEOs must report directly to the permanent secretary on a regular basis, including on all significant decisions, after management meetings.
“Additionally, the CEO of a parastatal/ State Enterprise should not be a board member of another public enterprise. The CEO should attend board meetings as an ex-officio member,” he said.
Cde Chinamasa said the implementation of the policy framework would entail, in certain instances, the amendment of founding statutes for some parastatals.
He said his committee was now focused on dealing with the scourge of abnormal salaries, allowances of senior managers of the entities and their procurement practices.
“These issues have been the centre of public debate and media exposure. The government is fully committed that this matter of immense public, and indeed, national interest is resolved in accordance with due process of the law,” said Cde Chinamasa.
“The committee will oversee the forensic audit of all parastatals and local authorities to give them a clean bill of health as may be necessary on a case-by-case basis.”
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