Certain posts and positions within the state have gone
unoccupied for over two years and with no real attempts to fill them. This
creates negative impressions and indicators on a number of fronts, all of which
raise the question: What is the logical explanation behind the slack in hiring?
اضافة اعلان
Who could believe that the Department of Land and Survey has
been operating without a director general for over two years, or that the
general supplies and customs departments have only had acting directors for
three months and one month, respectively. The Ministry of Planning has not had a secretary general for two years.
There are also other senior leadership positions that have
been vacant for months and weeks and the only explanation that anyone has found
is one of the following:
First: The positions at these institutions are not as
important as the ones everyone is familiar with, which is to say that the
institutions in question can operate normally without a director. Personally, I
believe that this reason may be unreasonable and is not taken into account by
the government and policymakers given that these executives play a key role in
the development of these bodies and the implementation of official policies as
required.
Second: There is a genuine lack of qualified staff in the
public sector who could assume these positions and that decision makers do not
rush in making these decisions as long as applicants fail to meet the
requirements set by the government. Therefore, there would not be a rush to
hire until the right person has been chosen for the right position.
I think the second reason is more logical and a proper
justification for why these positions have not been filled despite the daily
pressures that the government faces from different entities.
The government today is paying the price for the actions of
former governments, which colluded with different Lower Houses in the past to
instate staff that are unqualified to lead to the public sector. Most notable
of these actions have been the public sector restructuring plan endorsed in
2011, which has thus far cost the Treasury more than JD520 million, even though
early estimates reported that the cost would not exceed JD82 million.
The issue is not limited to the dire consequences that the
Treasury and citizens’ pockets have paid for, which in my opinion is the
greatest case of corruption in the history of the state and is one that has
gone unaccounted for. The issue has also affected all competent public sector
employees who were driven to early retirement, resignation or emigration to
find work elsewhere. The only ones who remain are those who came in through the
Civil Service Bureau or infiltrated the public sector by means of nepotism or
favoritism. Those people have had their salaries increased and have been
promoted through the incentives regulation endorsed under the aforementioned
restructuring plan.
It is no surprise that all the ministries and state
institutions are demanding exemption from the restructuring regulation, which
would allow them to appoint expertise from outside the scope of existing public
employees. It has become difficult for officials to rely on what is already
there. The public sector needs to eliminate the restructuring plan and allow
for new contracts with external expertise to support the operations of these
ministries and allow them to move forward with reform.
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