Two weeks ago, we began a discussion of the 2012 annual report of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) that the Minister of Finance had presented to the National Assembly. We noted that the key directors are connected to, or are part of, the political directorate. This does not reflect well from a governance standpoint. In particular, Ministers should restrict themselves to the formulation of policies and allow professionally and technically competent persons to be involved in the management of state institutions. Such an arrangement will leave room for recourse to the higher authority, that is, the Minister, in event of a problem.
Although the Audit Office did not complete the audit of NICIL within the prescribed deadline, on the face of it, the availability of audited accounts for 2012 represents a significant improvement compared with previous years.