Posted by Chester Morton / Tuesday, 29 November 2016 / No comments
The main features of a Public Corporation
Definition of Public corporation
A Public Corporation is an entity that has been established
by an Act of Parliament with the sole aim of providing services to the public
at a reasonably priced rate. Some of these services include, but is not limited
to, water, electricity, postal and telecommunication, public broadcast.
FEATURES OF PUBLIC
CORPORATION
State owned
One of the features of a Public Corporation is that it is
owned by the state. However, there are times when the government and other
private business men team up to form the corporation but it does not change its
state own tag.
Legal entity
Another feature of a Public Corporation is that it is a legal
entity. In other words, it can be sued and can also sue others. As part of its
human resource, Public Corporations can employ lawyers as their Legal Directors
or can engage the services of one when the need arises.
Created by law
Another feature of a Public Corporation is that it is created
by an Act of Parliament. Where there is no constitutional government in place,
other legal avenues are used to create it. Another way of putting it is to say
that it is created by a statute.
Board of Directors
A feature of a Public Corporation is that it has a Board of
Directors which gives a general direction for the corporation to follow while
leaving the day-to-day running to a Managing Director.
Financially independent
Public Corporations are independent financially. They are
able to raise their own capital, generate their own income and make savings.
They are also allowed to spend the money without recourse to approval from the
government.
Different from the Civil Service
Public Corporations are different from the Civil Service in
the sense that while Public Corporations recruit, promote and generally
discipline its workforce, the Civil Service on the other hand recruits it
workers through the Public Service Commission. Also, while workers of Public
Corporations are called Public Servants, the Civil Service calls it workers,
Civil Servants.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1. a. What is a Public Corporation? [3 marks]
b. Highlight five
features of a Public Corporation. [12 marks]
