The Liverpool Landing Stage has suffered from cost blowout after cost blowout.
Douglas Promenade has suffered from repeated delays.
The waterslides at the NSC are beyond a joke.
After each project, we hear weak Government spin about how “mistakes were made“. Talk is cheap.
That’s why we need to hold senior Government officials to account. They need to have skin in the game. Skin in the game will create a fairer society: because the decision makers will bear some of the risk of the things that they promise.
How do we do this? A reasonable start is the proposal by Onchan Member of the House of Keys, Julie Edge, from the July 2021 sitting of Tynwald:
Chief Executive Officers of public bodies
Tynwald Order Paper PP 2021/0156a
The Hon. Member for Onchan (Ms Edge) to move – That Tynwald is of the opinion that in future the terms of employment of the Chief Executive Officer or equivalent of every Government Department, Board and Office, whether recruited externally or internally, should include annual performance-related targets; and that the pay structure for such officers should be reviewed to include a performance-related element; and that the Council of Ministers should report on the review by December 2022.
This is an opportunity to improve fairness in our society, by ensuring that Government officials hold some of the risk for the decisions that they make. Not only will such officials be held accountable, but it will lead to improved rewards for high-performing staff, and better accuracy with budgeting for taxpayer money and resources.
