Government initiates public service reform

The formation of a professional public servant institute is being planned in public services.

A professional public servant will be a permanently appointed individual and be selected through competitions.

The amendments are foreseen in a draft that offers changes in 65 different laws.

The Public Service Bureau is an author of the draft and it was presented in Parliament by the government.

The draft also specifies ranking for public servants. The first rank will be stuck to those on high posts. The second category will be associated with middle governing chain, while the third will be entitled as high category specialists level. There are fourth and fifth categories as well for low and very low governing structures.

The draft reads that the promotion of a public servant should take place from a lower level to the higher one based on internal competitions.

A special testing for the public servants suspends through the draft and a new system of scoring comes into effect. The new system provides assessments of a public servant’s fulfilled activities at the end of a year.

If a competition is announced for a public servant, the participant will have to present a special certificate issued by a relevant body that confirms that the individual has successfully undergone the certification process.

The draft reads that a special mobility institute will be launched that will ensure the moving of public servants to equivalent or lower positions in the case of some problems or abolishment of their departments.

In the case of failure in the move, the public servants will be enlisted in a reserve system. The maximum time period of being there are two years and the individual will be given three month salary. The people are also eligible to take part in internal competitions.

The government states that it is keeping its pre-election promise over the reform of the public service. They cliam that the reform will provide professional staff and remove questions over nepotism.

If the draft really meets its demands it will be only welcome. However, unfortunately we see many laws and amendments without genuine levers of their enforcement.

The government should ensure appropriate amendments with definite plans of their enforcement.

It is also very likely that the draft will cause dissatisfaction as according to many NGOs public services are boosted with unprofessional staff.

The elections are coming close and the government might refrain from taking radical steps to retain votes.