Prominent financial consultant Kem Warner has warned that Antigua and Barbuda faces serious challenges in managing public funds, not because of a lack of legislation, but due to weak supervision and enforcement.

Speaking on best practices in financial governance, Warner stressed that the country does not suffer from an absence of laws and regulations. Instead, he argued, the real issue lies in how those rules are monitored and applied.

“What we have in Antigua and Barbuda is the lack of supervision, which is the enforcement of regulations,” he said. “We tend to pass laws and policies, often as knee-jerk reactions to crises, but the problem is not always in the rules themselves – it is in how they are enforced.”

Warner criticised a culture of reactive decision-making, where new legislation is used to appease public concern rather than to strengthen long-term internal controls and risk management. He called for a more proactive approach, beginning with the way boards and oversight structures are appointed and run.

According to Warner, political influence has often shaped the composition of boards overseeing public entities, with members chosen largely for party loyalty rather than competence or integrity.

“There is nothing fundamentally wrong with appointing supporters,” he acknowledged. “But those individuals must have the capacity, the right attitude, integrity and ethics to perform effectively. Directors are not there just to fill slots – they carry a fiduciary responsibility by law.”

He stressed that poor governance at the top ultimately filters down through entire organisations, undermining accountability and effective management of public resources.

“If we do not fix the problem at the top, this inherent risk will continue from generation to generation,” Warner cautioned.

The consultant urged successive governments, regardless of party, to treat corporate governance as more than a slogan, insisting it must be “implemented and practised from the top” to safeguard the country’s financial systems.