MANIFESTO

According to the Manifesto of the Unit for Corporate Governance, written by Prof Bob Garratt, the Unit strongly supports the following propositions:

• That effective corporate governance is the key to building stable and healthy institutions in a nation. These institutions include listed and unlisted companies, central government departments and agencies, state-owned enterprises, regional and local government organisations, family businesses, charities and non-profit organisations.
• That the essence of the role of a board, and its directors, is to drive the enterprise forward while keeping it under prudent control. This 'director's dilemma' is irresolvable and needs, therefore, to be reviewed regularly and rigorously by the board in order to deliver each director's fiduciary duty and ensure the long-term health of the organisation.
• That corporate governance compliance is necessary but not sufficient.
• That corporate governance sufficiency comes from measurable board performance — the adding of value through its work.
• That the long-tested values and behaviours of corporate governance — accountability, probity and transparency — are key to the development of effective directoral attitudes and behaviours.
• That the board must ensure its supremacy in decision-making for the total organisation because in it resides ultimate responsibility, accountability, liability and leadership.
• A director is 'always on'. Directing does not occur only around the boardroom table.
• That the following legal concepts must always be reinforced by a director's work:
  • a director's primary loyalty being to the organisation as a separate legal entity rather than to those who appointed him or her the independence of thought of each director
  • the need for skill and care in decision-making
  • the collective responsibility of the board
  • the chairman is 'the boss of the board' and the chief executive is 'the boss of the day-to-day operations'.
• The board must ensure its connectedness to the rest of its organisation and ensure the necessary fast learning systems which test the effectiveness of its policies and strategies.
• The board must develop effective selection, induction, evaluation, development and renewal processes to keep itself healthy and diverse.

It is the role of the Unit for Corporate Governance in Africa to test, if necessary to destruction, through research, education, publication, consultancy and praxis, these beliefs. The Unit's main focus is the development of board effectiveness through reinforcing director and board values, behaviours and abilities to learn continuously from their actions.