KINGSTON, Jamaica — Twenty public bodies have been rationalised over a two-year period through mergers, closures, divestments and integration into parent ministries the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke announced yesterday (February 7) as he delivered an update on public sector transformation.

According to Clarke, Jamaica has approximately 190 public bodies thus creating an administrative and governance challenge.

“We are reducing the number of public bodies through merging entities that are similar in function, closing entities that have outlived their useful lives, divesting entities and very importantly integrating entities back into the parent ministries where it is no longer necessary to have a separate body set up by statute to deliver the function,” Clarke emphasised in his update of Government’s Public Sector Transformation Programme held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

“Importantly, the function doesn’t go but the way in which the function is delivered changes,” he added.

Among the entities merged are the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning; National Youth Service, the Apprenticeship Board and the HEART/NTA; the Office of the Children’s Registry and Child Development Agency; and the National Land Agency and the Land Administration and Management Programme.

Entities such as Kingston Waterfront Hotel and Portmore Commercial Development Limited; Port Authority Management Services; and the Road Maintenance Fund have been closed. Additionally, the functions of the Board of Supervision have been integrated into the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development and the functions of the National Family Planning Board and the National Council on Drug Abuse have been integrated into the Ministry of Health.

Clarke noted that these actions “have been carried out with little, if any disruption to the delivery of services.”

He said that there is now an accelerated programme in place for public bodies and action will be taken on 18 more by September of this year. These include the closure of Montego Bay Beach Ltd; the merger of the Fair Trading Commission and Consumer Affairs Commission; and the integration of the Legal Aid Council into the Ministry of Justice.