President of the Antigua Barbuda Coalition of Service Industries, Cassandra P Simon said politicians here missed a good opportunity to advance themselves on the benefit of corporate governance.
Simon, who addressed the opening of a three-day Chartered Director Program being put on by the Antigua and Barbuda Coalition of Service Industries Inc (ABCSI) in partnership with the Caribbean Governance Training Institute (CGTI), said politicians have an obligation to the electorate to provide the best possible representation.
“I do believe there was a wider cross-section of people who should have been represented and top of that list should have been politicians. As a country, they are the largest company and I believe they have a responsibility, just as we do to membership, shareholders, employees and suppliers, they have a responsibility not just to come to us every five years, but, to give us the best stewardship,” Simon said.
Thirty-two participants, from several local and regional companies are at Jolly Beach for the training, which Simon said is particularly important at a time where Boards have come into disrepute, resulting in enquiries and investigations.
At the end of the training, participants will sit a written exam to gain their internationally recognized designation.
“The concern is about brining awareness to persons of the role they play when they accept director positions,” Simon said. “In light of what’s being going on in our local area where you are hearing about directors being arrested or questioned, we thought this was the best time for such a workshop.”
Meanwhile, Chairman and co-founder of the Caribbean Governance Training Institute, Dr Chris Bart said Board of directors should take responsibility when corruption is detected in their organisation.
“When directors were not being knowledgeable, they fell prey to the three C’s of bad directorship. They are complacent, meaning they just sit there and do nothing; they are complicit because they watch bad things happen and do nothing about it and they are corruptible. When directors finally become aware of what their job is about it helps reduce the probability of the 3 C’s,” Dr Bart said.
He noted that since the region wide training, there has been a change of attitude of directors and even management.
Dr Bart added that when an organisation fails, it is not just management who should be blamed, but the Board who sat and approved the things that caused problems or they did not act quick enough to prevent further issues.
“Boards need to understand that they are the ultimate risk management system of the organization, and yes they are part time, and yes they do not necessarily have the amount of information management have but they still have a job to do,” he added.
The CGTI is headquartered in St Lucia and offered similar training throughout the region. Dr Bart said he will be heading to Jamaica and the Bahamas for other workshops.
The ABCSI said the programme is a dynamic educational initiative which focuses on the latest best practices that Caribbean Board members need to know if they are to competently carry out their roles as both organizational stewards and active participants with management in major strategic and capital spending decisions.
Some of the participants come from the Antigua and Barbuda Department of Marine Services Merchant Shipping, Antigua Public Utilities Authority, American University of Antigua, Board of Education, LCI Incorporated, Community First Cooperation Credit Union, University of Health Sciences, ABI Insurance and Henry & Burnette.