Since they started being set up during the second half of the 1960’s, public agencies were intended to carry out the “new” tasks undertaken by government which needed a greater flexibility than was provided by civil service structures. They also had to maintain a level of responsibility in decision-making that would be distinct from that happening at a political level.

Generally the “new” tasks at hand were to be regulatory in scope (issue of the currency, supervision of trade, how enterprises were to be established and run, how to expand the infrastructure). Over the years the operations of public agencies got spread all over the government system and scrambled.

Regulations about how agencies should come to their decisions were introduced that became identical to those prevalent in the civil service. Those agencies which observe the regulations to the full, end up paralysed. Others simply ride roughshod over the regulations and come to act like pirates.

Then in many cases, agencies serve as a smokescreen behind which responsibilites get fudged. A politician would have “decided”, but it is the agency board which signs the papers. Subsequently board memebers can say they only signed because they had instructions to do so, not because they were aware of what they were signing to.

There is an overpowering need for the overall operations of public agencies to be put under radical scrutiny.

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ACCOUNTABILITY

A crucial distinction exists between private and public management. The first sort has the responsibility to give the major account of its actions to the private owners (apart from aspects of social responsibility where private management must also be prepared to give an account of its actions to public authorities). The account provided to owners can be done in camera and follow different reporting methods from enterprise to enterprise.

In public management, the accountability exercise must be a public one and open and transparent as required.

There are too many people in this country as of now who do not want to recognize this difference been what’s private and what’s public, or who do not know how to respect it. Those who find themselves in public management, even if temporarily before soon returning to private management, have the obligation to follow the rules for accountability that apply in the public sector.

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NERVES

Is this just an impression of mine or is it the case that at the  end of the year 2020, a certain nervousness, even a sentiment of agitation, has been spreading? Some feel a deep irritation about things in general... and one can understand why. Restrictions on everyday life under the conditions of a pandemic remain a shocking experience for many.

To make matters worse, few suspected it would be going on for so long. The premature forecasts of those who claimed too early in the day that the worst was over when in fact it was still to come, made things worse.

And now the wait for the vaccine is increasing the depression caused by the uncertainties and the expectations.

Social psychologists will have to decide whether there is indeed (or not), individually and as a society, a state of increased despondency. If it is happening then perhaps the best way of containing it is by recognizing that after all, given what we have been through, it is a natural development. Once there is such an understanding, it should be possible to accept it “calmly” and wait for it to fade out when we get – as we shall do – to the stage of recovery.