EVOLUTION OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE-HOW IS BOTSWANA FARING IN THIS GOVERNANCE DEVELOPMENT? PART 1.

In the last article, we investigated how corporate governance has been evolving among nations which we may call the forerunners of governance development at the earlier stages.

We also learnt from the insightful information on the reasons for the accelerated pace of governance evolution or key causes for corporate governance. We were also anxious to know where it all began and the impactful stages of its development.

The last important question now is, have we experienced any improvements, consequently, in corporate leadership since the advent of corporate governance?

The last article outlined a chronology of corporate governance evolution where the forerunners of governance development were involved. This article now takes it further to study those events in detail.

Before we take the plunge into these issues, we will compare the impending economic consequences of COVID 19 with what precipitated corporate governance initiative we are about to discuss that took place in the United States of America ( USA) some 100 years ago.

Will the Christian believers also say, despite the gruesome in which the consequences of corona virus are unfolding, it is the fulfilment of the Prophecy as has been articulated in the Bible as part of a sequence of those events that have already occurred and those that are still to come before the end days?

The other question is what happens after every hundred years ( A Century)? However, as we stated early in Part 1 of these series of articles, corporate governance is mainstreamed in everything that touches human life, a body corporate livelihood, and human economic welfare.

To drive a point home, let me illustrate what will, imminently, be discussed by the following two United Kingdom ( UK) quotations:

“Corporate governance is the system by which companies are directed and controlled. Boards of directors are responsible for the governance of their companies. The shareholders’ role in governance is to appoint the directors and the auditors and to satisfy themselves that an appropriate governance structure is in place. The responsibilities of the board include setting company’s strategic aims providing the leadership to put them into effect supervising the management of the business and reporting to shareholders on their stewardship. The boards' actions are subject to laws, regulations and shareholders in general meeting.” ( Financial Reporting Council, 2016).

“Corporate governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals _ the aim is to align as nearly as possible the interests of individuals, corporations and society.” ( Cadbury ( Sir), nd).

The Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC) is the United States of America ( USA) government agency which was formed following the financial market crash in the 1920s ( Wikipedia, nd). The purpose of the formation of this agency was to protect investors and the national banking system. The Commission was founded by the then U. S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt the Securities Act of 1934. The Commission is led by five ( 5) Commissioners serving 5 years staggered terms.

SEC was one of President Roosevelt's New Deal Programmes to help fight the devastating economic effects of the Great Depression and prevent any future market calamities ( www. history. com).

Accessed on 06 December 2020. Some two ( 2) main aspects of the mission of the Act are: to protect the investors, maintain orderly and efficient market; and facilitate capital formation; and SEC strives to promote a market environment that is worthy of the public’s trust.

Let us pause a bit and check how we are faring in our seemingly inquisitive questions or eagerness to receive more knowledge on these issues. In the beginning of this article, we posed some questions and in Part 1 article, we also asked ourselves if the evolution of corporate governance paces up with protection of the economic, environmental, social and governance issues.

History tells us that immediately before financial markets crash of 1920s there was the First World War which might had been one of the causes of the market crash. We should note that 100 years later in 2020 the corona virus and COVID 19 Pandemic brought ravaging attacks on humankind including human ailments and fatalities.

Can we speculate that what follows then will be another Great Economic Depression? One other question to consider is, do solutions brought about by corporate governance pace up with the rapid evolution of corporate governance?

In my view Science and governance are not panacea or total remedy to natural disasters or calamities. They are there to treat mental shocks, wounds, injuries, etc. as supplements to primary solution.

In the next article, we will continue to analyse different approaches to corporate governance evolution in different forerunners of governance nations.

In addition to relating the evolution of corporate governance to the unfolding events, we will also like to benchmark for our countries which still have desires to develop codes on governance and ethics.