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25 November, 2008
CANADA
New law to set PS pay
The Canadian Government plans to use legislation to limit Public Service salaries after negotiations over a PS pay rise failed.
   In a major speech last week, the Government said it would table legislation to ensure “sustainable compensation growth in the Federal Public Service” after telling workers to take-it or leave-it over a deal worth 6.8 per cent over four years.
   The news of possible wage controls followed an announcement to unions by Treasury Board President, Vic Toews, that the wage talks were over and the Government had made its final offer.
   Mr Toews said discussions could continue, but more money would not be forthcoming.
   The final wage offer took unions by surprise, leaving them to decide on a course of action.
   The two largest unions who represent over 155,000 Canadian Public Servants, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) called emergency meetings to respond to the offer.
   PIPSC President, Michèle Demers, said she was shocked the Government had resorted to such tactics and it was just the “tip of the iceberg” of what would be coming to the PS.
   “We're not accepting this final offer and not accepting it as negotiations,” Ms Demers said.
   “This is bad faith bargaining. We have been at the table for 18 months and some for more than two years. ... We're not going to roll over.”
   She said as Canada faced economic slowdown it needed a strong Public Service that was not “dwindled and dismantled”.
   Treasury Board critic from the New Democratic Party, Pat Martin, labelled the Government’s approach as “thuggish” and “heavy-handed”.
   “I think cooler heads should prevail because, when we're in such turbulent economic times, the last thing we need is to pick a fight with the whole Public Service.”
   For the unions, the choices on how to respond were few.
   They could call a vote of their memberships on the final offer, however if they did not accept it, they faced the possibility of legislation that could remove concessions on other issues already negotiated.
   They also faced the risk of the Government withdrawing its offer and imposing a lower settlement.
   The proposed legislation has signalled to Public Servants that the profitable years of Public Service expansion could be coming to a close as the Service bounced back to the size it was before the downsizing of around 50,000 jobs in the 1990s.
   A limit on compensation was expected to control wage and pension costs and have a downward impact on wage settlements across the country.
   In its speech the Government said “hard decisions” needed be made about spending and that all programs, grants, contributions and capital spending would be reviewed
   Departments were to receive funding for essential services and “no more”.


25 November, 2008
UNITED STATES
White House staff taking PS jobs
The outgoing Bush Administration in the United States has been called on to stop offering its politically appointed staffers full-time positions in the Federal Public Service.
   Known as ‘burrowing’ the practice has been common with outgoing administrations in the past keen to ensure their cherished policies were not lost when they left power.
   But spokeswoman for President Bush, Dana Perino, denied the allegations, saying there was no orchestrated effort to embed party loyalists in the Public Service before President-elect, Barack Obama is sworn into Office on 20 January.
   As is common in the US following the inauguration of a new president, hundreds of political officials would be forced to resign from their posts while career workers would stay on.
   Ms Perino, said the White House had not encouraged non-career appointees to seek career positions to further President Bush’s policies.
   “The White House doesn't play a role in that career hiring process,” Ms Perino said.
   She said the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) oversaw those decisions in the final 11 months of an administration.
   According to figures released by the OPM, between 1 March and 3 November, the Bush Administration allowed 20 political appointees to become career Public Servants.
   The figures showed six appointees to the Senior Executive Service had been given approval to take career jobs at the same level.
   OPM Associate Director, Kevin Mahoney, declined to disclose which appointees had been approved for career posts and which Agencies or jobs they had been approved to.
   Mr Mahoney said it had been his office's practice for several years to refer questions about the approvals to Agencies that sought the career status for political aides.
   He said the OPM reviewed whether the political employee was qualified and evaluated them against any other applicants, ensuring an Agency was not creating a soft landing spot for political aides.
   Senators Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein wrote to President Bush, saying the recent transfers suggested a “regrettable, but entirely foreseeable” last-minute plan to fill jobs with administration officials.
   “Senior members of your Administration are undermining your public commitment to ease the transition by reorganising Agencies at the eleventh hour and installing political appointees in key positions for which they may not be qualified,” the Senators wrote.
   “We respectfully urge you to stand by your public commitment to a smooth transition by directing executive Agencies immediately to halt any conversions of political appointees to career positions.”
   Democrats and career employees said the personnel moves came as administration officials scrambled to complete policy and regulatory initiatives on issues including drinking-water standards, air quality at national parks, workplace safety and mountaintop mining.
   In May 2006, the Government Accountability Office reported during the first four years of the Bush administration, 144 political appointments were converted to career positions.


25 November, 2008
NORTHERN IRELAND
Lower paid staff in backpay bonanza
Low-paid Public Servants in Northern Ireland could be entitled to up to £100 million in back-pay under plans to resolve historic pay inequalities being explored by the Province’s Finance Minister.
   The Minister, Peter Robinson, said he was prepared to face up to the salary inequality affecting around 10,000 workers in the past, 66 per cent of whom were women and 60 per cent Catholic lower-grade Public Servants.
   Mr Robinson said he would engage with trade unions to resolve the issue, despite potentially serious financial implications.
   “I am not prepared to follow the actions of people who preceded me and leave it unresolved,” he said.
   “There should be equal pay for equal work of equal value.”
   The union representing the workers, the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (Nipsa), has been negotiating with the Department of Finance but has been unable to tell members when they would see their money.
   Nipsa General Secretary, John Corey, said the union had launched potential legal action to ensure the money was secured for its members.
   Mr Corey said despite the Union’s steps to take legal action, Government Ministers had confirmed the back-pay would be paid to the Public Servants who were owed it.
   “We have entered negotiations to settle this matter and get the money paid as urgently as possible,” he said.
   “Having said that, we recognise it is a complex process. I think it is going to take a period of months rather than weeks.”
   Mr Corey said the Union was committed to achieving a positive result through negotiations, but had taken legal precautions to protect its members.
   “The legal advice we have obtained from senior counsel is that we have a clear-cut case,” he said.
   “We as a union will be giving top priority to these negotiations but it is going to take some time because of the range of issues that have to be addressed.”
   Mr Robinson and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, raised the issue with Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London recently.
   Executive Ministers have insisted the Treasury come up with the cash since the problem was first discovered and discussed during the period of Direct Rule by London.
   Mr Robinson said Direct Rule Ministers “did not want to touch this issue” due to the difficulties and calculations to be made.
   He said those entitled to the cash included workers who had since left the Public Service, moved to other jobs or been promoted and could involve some sections which have been privatised.
   The issue dates back to 1999 when Nipsa first formally launched its claim.


25 November, 2008
PAKISTAN
Tough competition for PS recruits
Pakistan’s Public Service was losing the battle to secure the services of brilliant or outstanding students who preferred the better pay and perks of the private sector, according to the Director-General of the Federal Public Service Commission, Ameer Ali Arain.
   Mr Arain said the Public Service was losing some of its appeal and that outstanding graduates were less likely to sit a Central Superior Services (CSS) exam for admission into prestigious Federal Government Departments.
   He said he was concerned by the trend which saw graduates on the lookout for lucrative positions in multinationals and private companies.
   Mr Arain said the introduction of Local Governments run by elected Nazims (Mayors) had contributed to the decreased interest in Public Service positions.
   He said over the past three years, the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) had been unable to find enough suitable candidates to fill its own vacancies, with the Establishment Division reporting only 189 appropriate candidates were found to fill its 299 vacant positions.  
   Mr Arain said during the competitive examination of 2006, the FPSC had to carry 47 vacancies over into the following year and in 2005, 25 jobs were not filled.
   He said the Commission needed to embrace innovation and change to deal with competition from the private sector.
   Mr Arain said the Commission had arranged career-counselling sessions for principals and lecturers at colleges and universities across Pakistan.
   He said teachers would then prepare their students for exams to be held by FPSC to choose candidates for the CSS exam.


25 November, 2008
ISRAEL
Plan to make PS service compulsory
The Government of Israel is considering a plan to require all citizens to spend time working in the Public Service. It is also looking at attracting more Palestinian-Israelis into the Israeli Army.
   Israel’s Haaretz daily newspaper reported that Interior Minister, Meir Sheetrit, had called upon the Palestinian sector to join civil or military service.
   At a Jewish-Arab conference on economic development, Mr Sheetrit said sinces many State benefits in Israel were contingent on serving in the military, Palestinian-Israelis were deprived of access to a range of Government programs and funds.
   “We all live in one country, we're all in the same boat,” he said.
   “Israeli citizens need to be equal in every aspect, in their rights, and their obligations.”
   The Palestinian community in Israel has opposed the plans, saying they attacked Palestinian identity while Palestinian-Israelis also voiced misgivings about compulsory public service, which would see all citizens provide community service in towns, hospitals or schools as an alternative to military service.
   President of the Arab Human Rights Association, Mohammad Zeidan, said they objected to “any kind of military service”.
   “This is about the Israelisation of the Arab community: that's why they display it as an enormous victory,” Mr Zeidan said.
   A Palestinian Member of Parliament and a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Abbas Zakur said he believed the number of Israeli Arabs in the army was decreasing, despite military claims it had increased.
   “If there is a rise, it is momentary and certainly not a phenomenon that will continue,” Mr Zakur said.
   “The young Arabs want peaceful coexistence more than anything else.
   “I hope that our future efforts to live together in peace can set an example for the whole world, once the Jewish people let the Arab minority in Israel live in dignity.”
   He said neither side was interested in Mr Sheetrit’s proposal.
   “They can't ask us to join their army,” he said.
   The Haaretz reported an increase in the number of Palestinian-Israelis volunteering for the army, as unlike their Jewish countrymen, Muslim and Christian Palestinian-Israelis were exempt from military service.
   The newspaper found the estimated number of Palestinian-Israeli recruits had increased from 50 to 100 since the beginning of 2008, making a total of 300 recruits
   It was expected to rise to 350 by the beginning of 2009, making up 0.2 per cent of the Country’s 175,000 military personnel.
   The Palestinian-Israeli community in Israel was estimated to be around 150,000 of the 1.14 million people living in Israel.


25 November, 2008
MALAYSIA
Official complaints on the rise
Complaints against the Malaysian Public Service have increased sharply, with the number more than doubling in the past three years.
   Director-General of the Public Service, Tan Sri Ismail Adam said most complaints related to abuse of power, corrupt practices, late or no action by officers, lack of enforcement and poor services.
   Mr Ismail said according to figures released by the Public Complaints Bureau, 5,347 complaints had been filed in 2007 compared to 3,397 in 2006 and 2,707 in 2005.
   “For the first nine months of this year, 6,059 complaints have been recorded,” he said.
   Mr Ismail made the comments during a speech read by his deputy, Datuk Dr Ismail Alias, at the opening of the Public Service’s national Quality Control Circle (QCC) convention.
   Dr Ismail said the figures showed people’s increasing dissatisfaction with public services.
   “The scenario paints a negative picture of the image and reputation of the Public Service,” he said.
   Dr Ismail said QCC teams could help address the issues raised by customers.
   Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam, said the Public Service needed to “interface with new models of modern government” to ensure businesses and citizens benefited from improved service delivery.
   Dr Chan said Public Servants should be open-minded and prepared to learn new skills and knowledge.
   “If we do not have an open mind and always think that we are the best, then we will not be able to improve ourselves,” he said.


25 November, 2008
CHINA
Record number seeking PS entry
The Chinese Ministry of Human Resources has revealed 775,000 applicants have registered to sit for entrance exams for the Public Service but there were only 13,500 positions available.
   Vice Minister of the Ministry, Yang Shiqiu, said only 1.74 per cent of applicants would receive a position, making the Public Service exam one of the most competitive exams in China.
   Mr Yang said 130,000 more people had signed up for the 2009 entrance exam than in 2008 and that the exams were so competitive due to pressures in the employment market.
   He said there were four main reasons this year’s competition was so fierce.
   He said the growing pressure on China’s employment systems due to the expansion of university enrollment had seen more graduated university students entering the employment market, that the system allowed potential Public Servants to compete with each other on an equal footing and in recent years, PS authorities had further encouraged competition by removing enrolment restrictions relating to height, weight, gender, appearance, marital status, regional identification and institution of graduation.
   Mr Yang said Public Service positions were inherently attractive, with Public Servants enjoying higher professional reputations and social standing while performing in a relatively stable, low risk job.


25 November, 2008
UNITED STATES
Unprecedented screening for Obama staff
Almost 1,000 new appointments to the United States’ Obama Administration face an unprecedented level of scrutiny of their personal, financial and professional backgrounds before being appointed to the President-elect’s policy-making teams.
   A senior transition advisor for Senator Obama said the vetting process would be handled methodically and thoroughly, focusing on anything that could cause embarrassment to the administration or the individual, such as Facebook profiles, past drug use and domestic staff employment.
   “You start with public sources: You go on Google, Nexis and other public record databases,” the adviser said.
   He said following the initial step, President-elect Obama had asked contenders to complete questionnaires with 63 questions and provide detailed personal and financial records for the last decade.
   “The real purpose of vetting is to understand the person's ability to perform the job and be confirmed for the position,” the adviser said.
   “We also want to avoid surprises.”
   E. Pendleton James, who managed personnel for President Ronald Reagan’s transition, said the process had “become a nightmare”.
   “I don't know how anybody with some self-esteem can subject themselves to all of these questionnaires. . . . Every candidate who fills out the form is deathly afraid of making a mistake,” Mr James said.
   “If he or she does make an innocent mistake, that can be used as a political weapon in the confirmation process to question your integrity.”
   A senior Pentagon official who vetted nominees for four Republican presidents, said Obama's standards were so high he risked turning away the best candidates.
   “With two wars going on and several major acquisition programs, they need the best people they can find in the United States today, and you've got to be careful not to be so stringent that you eliminate those people,” he said.
   “If you get too difficult, people will say, ‘No, thank you.’”
   Vetting processes and inquiries have grown deeper as new scandals regarding appointments emerged from each administration.
   President Bill Clinton’s nominee for Attorney General, Zoe Baird, withdrew following revelations she had hired a Peruvian couple living in the US illegally as domestic staff.  
   During President Bush’s transition process, his nominee for Secretary of Labour, Linda Chavez, withdrew after it was discovered she gave haven to an illegal immigrant from Guatemala.
   Lawyer and Lobbyist who worked on the Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton transitions, Michael Berman, said the questionnaires used in 1976 and 1980 had been “tiny” compared to Senator Obama’s.
   “Over time, in each transition, whether Democratic or Republican, some new issue will arise, some question that hasn't been asked before that causes consternation, so you simply add that in,” Mr Berman said.
   Nominees for the 800 executive posts requiring Senate confirmation would also undergo an FBI background check and file records with the Office of Government Ethics.


25 November, 2008
PHILIPPINES
Honours graduates get priority treatment
University graduates with honours degrees are to be given top priority for recruitment in the Philippines Public Service to ensure the Service was “competent.”
   Under the proposed Public Honor Graduates Priority Act, currently before the House of Representatives, honours students would be assumed to possess the minimum qualifications for the position.
   Representative of the political party the Alliance of Rural Concerns (ARC), Narciso Santiago III, said prioritising qualified honours graduates of Government-funded schools would act as an incentive for them to excel academically.
   Mr Santiago said the Government “heavily invests in education through State colleges and universities”.
   He said the General Appropriations Act, which was approved on its third reading, increased the Department of Education’s funding from P149.2 billion (A$3.07 billion) in 2008 to P167.9 billion (A$3.46 billion) in 2009.
   Mr Santiago said the House of Representatives had remained faithful to the constitutional mandate of giving education the highest focus among the nation's priorities.
   He pushed for the immediate passage of the Public Honor Graduates Priority Act, saying it upheld the constitutional mandate to guarantee equal access to opportunities for public services.


25 November, 2008
GHANA
Performance assessment upgraded
Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the Ghanaian Public Service are to be evaluated under a new Performance Management System that offers rewards and sanctions and would also assess the performance of individuals.
   Chief Director of the Office of the Head of Civil Service, Rebecca Amooh Aboagye announced the new policy, which was expected to commence next year.
   Ms Aboagye said the award scheme for innovation had been introduced under the African Association for Public Administration and Management.
   She said the scheme planned to facilitate the transfer of innovations and best practices in Public Administration and Management in Africa.
   She made the announcement at the launch of the Office of the Administrator of Stool Land’s (OASL’s) second Strategic Management Plan.
   Ms Aboagye said the Strategic Management Plan would run from 2008 to 2012 and sought to accelerate OASL’s growth.
   She said under the plan, OASL's operations would be expanded to 40 new districts and Capacity Building of staff and equipment provision would be addressed to ensure revenue increases.
   She commended the OASL for producing a comprehensive plan with far reaching goals and objectives in the area of human resources development, revenue mobilisation, effective data on the development and management of stool lands.
   “We, at the Office of the Head of Civil Service, are solidly behind you in your attempts to improve your performance,” Ms Aboagye said.
   The Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, Esther Obeng-Dapaah, said her Department was conscious of the need to put the right policies, structures, plans and strategies in place to help the land sector meet its challenges.
   “As competitive and rapidly changing as today's business agencies, we must keep policies, strategies and services delivery arrangement up to date and responsive to customer needs,” Mrs Obeng-Dapaah said.
   She said she was elated that OASL had seen significant improvement in revenue mobilization following the launch of the 2003-2007 strategic plan.


18 November, 2008
UNITED KINGDOM
PS urged to take more risk
The United Kingdom Public Service has been called on to adopt a more mature and accepting approach to taking risks.
   Panelists at the Whitehall and Westminster World’s Conference Transformation, Innovation and Delivery in UK Public Services made the call, saying the pressure of scrutiny from politicians and watchdogs could deter Departments from taking risks.
   Chief Executive of innovation champion the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, Jonathan Kestenbaum, said the Public Service needed to develop “an environment that absorbs failure”.
   “My first investment in the world of private equity was a deal that took six months to put together, then fell apart at the last moment,” Mr Kestenbaum said.
   “I was mortified, but none of my colleagues seemed remotely affected by it. The degree of tolerance of failure is totally different in the Public Sector.”
   He said public investors should hold funds in reserve to allow them to pursue opportunities as they arose.
   The head of the Young Foundation think tank, Geoff Mulgan, said organisations should run lots of pilots, while being willing to close most of them down.
   “In science or medicine, that’s normal,” Mr Mulgan said.
   “Yet it’s still not really how decision making happens in large parts of the Public Sector.”
   He suggested risk-taking be farmed out so that organisations at the front line were at “arm’s-length and deniable”.
   Mr Mulgan said this would make them less vulnerable to the Public Accounts Committee or media.
   Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ Head of Government and Public Sector Practice, John Sibson, said innovative practices would thrive in a “safe space” but that launching them in large organisations could be difficult due to pressures of governance, inspection and auditing.
   Mr Sibson said ‘risk’ was going out of fashion and that the financial crisis had its roots in “an age of under-managed innovation.
   “The first time that someone bundled some loans together and sold them on, that was an example of great innovation,” he said.
   “So I think we may be in for a lot more management of innovation.”
   Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, urged delegates to encourage managers to be more willing to take intelligently-judged risks.
   “Are people worried about the risks of failure? In which case, we need to show them the dangers of not taking those risks,” Sir Gus said.
   “Is it because people feel the need to ask permission? I’ve often said: ‘Ask forgiveness, not permission’.”
   Panelists at the conference pointed out the National Audit Office (NAO) would publish a report on risk next year.Director of Innovation at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, David Evans, urged the NAO to “write a report in which they celebrate noble failure”, as he did not think they were “doing enough of it”.

18 November, 2008
COMMONWEALTH
CAPAM sets up Training Institute
Public Servants from across the Commonwealth of Nations, have established a Public Service Training and Development Institutes Network.
   The PSTDI was set up at a recent meeting of the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) in Barbados and its first meeting was attended by senior representatives of training institutes from countries across the Commonwealth.
   CAPAM has invited experts representing leading training and development institutes to advise on the main activities of the network by serving on an Expert Working Group and Steering Committee.
   It said the network aimed to maximise the sharing of good practices for the management and delivery of learning programs for Public Servants.
   CAPAM said the PSTDI would promote the interchange of experts among training and development institutes through exchange programs and work assignments and would allow Public Servants to access courses in other nations by sharing learning programs.
   PSTDI would also promote collaboration in the design and refinement of new programs regarding ethics, gender issues and cross cultural sensitivity to “support the growth and encouragement of democratic governance”.
   CAPAM acknowledged the support of the Canadian International Development Agency in establishing the PSTDI network.
   The Public Service Training Institutes Working Group comprises of members from Ghana, India, Jamaica, Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
   Australian Public Service Commissioner, Lynelle Briggs was recently elected President of CAPAM.

18 November, 2008
FIJI
Training upgrade ordered for PS
The Fijian Public Service Commission has announced a major upgrade of its training and skills improvement program.
   The Commission said it planned to spend much of its budget for the next fiscal year on the upgrades.
   Public Service Commission Chairman, Rishi Ram, said it would focus on in-house and on-the-job training and would offer scholarships to enhance staff competencies and skills.
   Mr Ram said there were plans to reduce employee numbers through natural attrition and non-recruitment, the reform had to be accompanied by initiatives to improve the quality and delivery of services.
   He said scholarships would be mainly for skills that were scarce - such as meteorology, engineering, and veterinary science.
   “Training and development - formal and in-service - will provide a means of enhancing the competencies and skills of staff and also a way of encouraging and motivating commitment,” Mr Ram said.
   “It will build the knowledge, confidence and skills to lead and enthuse workers in strengthened relationships with stakeholders and partners for successful delivery.”
   Mr Ram said the training program would help the Public Service obtain the right skills in the right places to help deliver Government priorities.

18 November, 2008
UNITED STATES
Obama pledges purchasing overhaul
United States President-elect, Barack Obama, has promised to make the US Government’s purchasing processes more efficient.
   During his election campaign, Senator Obama and Vice-President elect, Joe Biden, pledged to reverse what they labelled ‘pork barrel spending’ by congress; the trend of PS employees leaving work for Government contractors; and a rise in the use of no-bid contracts.
   Senator Obama said he also aimed to make Federal buying systems more efficient and would reduce costs by around US$40 billion (A$61 billion) by using fewer contractors.
   Contracting specialists, former Federal procurement officials and trade group representatives said Senator Obama would have to effect a huge cultural change inside the Government to take procurement more seriously in order to fulfill his promises.
   The commentators said the tendency of Government acquisitions programs to be hit with delays and cost increases had worsened in recent years as the amount of spending on services, technology and other goods had more than doubled.
   According to a report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, 57,835 officials were in contract-related job classifications in 2000 and 58,723 in 2006.
   Contracting Law Professor at the University of Baltimore Law School, Charles Tiefer, said the new Obama Administration would be inheriting an “almost broken procurement system”.
   Professor Tiefer said the Clinton Administration had cut the number of procurement workers as part of an effort to trim red tape while President Bush accelerated the trend with a philosophical commitment to outsourcing and small Government.
   “During the last eight years, a lot of the critical oversight machinery was undercut or neglected,” Mr Tiefer said.
   President of market research firm, Eagle Eye, Paul Murphy, said he thought the Obama Administration would be stepping into a “thicket” of conflicting policy issues.
   Mr Murphy said if the Government embraced larger contracts they could receive discounts from vendors, but were also likely to disadvantage small businesses.
   He said achieving more transparency in the contracting process would require an ‘about-face’ approach in many cases and highlighted the lack of information, technology and training procurement workers needed to make smart purchases
   “With deregulation in the last several years, the Government has taken on a lot more risk. And we've seen a lot of very large expensive systems fail,” he said.
   Robert Burton, a former deputy administrator at the Procurement Policy Office said addressing the procurement workforce would be crucial to Senator Obama's success.
   “Even when the money is there and the need is there, they're finding it difficult to attract top talent to the Government,” Mr Burton said.
   Executive-Vice President of the Professional Services Council, a contractor trade group, Alan Chvotkin, said Government Agencies needed more well-trained procurement workers and that it could take over 100,000 new staff to meet its purchasing needs.

18 November, 2008
TONGA
PS reform needed to
stop abuse
Tonga’s Minister for Finance has called for urgent Public Service reform to stop Cabinet Ministers from abusing their power.
   The Minister, Afu'alo Matoto, said he was concerned the Government was not moving fast enough to reform the Public Service and that it would not be strong enough to check on and advise Ministers.
   Mr Matoto made the comments during an interview with Matangi Tonga Online, where he discussed Tonga’s moves towards political, economic and Public Service reforms.
   He said the Economic and Public Sector Reform Program had been launched in 2002 to develop the private sector to drive economic reform.
   “We started with the Public Sector Reform Program but it has not been working out as we wanted it to be and it concerns me very much to [try and] put an elected Government and elected ministers in place while the Public Sector Reform Program has not been fully implemented,” Mr Matoto said.
   He said people who came into power often found it difficult to stay within their boundaries and relied upon a strong Public Service to advise and keep tabs on them.
   Mr Matoto said the Economic and Public Sector Reform Program was aimed at improving the way the Private Sector did business and at restructuring the Civil Service.
   “With regards to the Economic Reform, our main concern has been with the reforming of the Financial Sector, a Financial Reform of the banking system, and a new Income Tax System, Tariff and Duties, and we are nearly through with that, excepting for refinement in a few areas,” he said.
   The Minister said Tonga would continue to press ahead with the reform program despite the global financial crisis and the international trend of Government bailouts for failing private enterprises.
   “"There is no way we can change direction,” he said.
   “We have come this far and we just have to keep improving what we are doing. If you want to go back, there will be more problems.”
   Mr Matoto said Tonga’s isolation would give them time to prepare for the impacts of the financial crisis and the best way of containing its affects would be “careful management”.
   “It applies to both the Government Ministries and the private sector,” he said.
   “The annual budget allocation remains the same and the challenge is to achieve what is required.”
   Mr Matoto said the price of imported goods, particularly fuel, remained a major concern as it meant Tonga's electricity price would remain among the highest in the region.
   He said “skilful and careful management” would see Tonga make it through any drop in tourist income due to the financial crisis.
   “I would not say we are in a recession, the price of oil and some goods have come down,” Mr Matoto said.  “We can't escape it because we are part of the global economy, but recession is a matter of a degree of impact.”
   The Minister said he was concerned about Tonga’s exposure in overseas loans as other currencies gained strength against the Tongan pa’anga.

18 November, 2008
NORTHERN IRELAND
Reforms to reduce size of PS
The First Minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson, has questioned whether the Province needs all the politicians and Government Departments it has.
   Mr Robinson called for radical “root-and-branch” reforms of public services as the global economic downturn placed pressure on frontline service delivery.
   He said there would be no let-up in the drive for better value-for-money in the Public Service, health and education sectors.
   Mr Robinson warned no areas were too “sacred” to suffer cuts.
   “I believe that most people are concerned not by who delivers public services but how they are delivered,” he said.
   “It is outcomes and not processes that matter. This is not the time for dogma of one form or another, it is a time for doing what works.”
   Mr Robinson questioned the need for 11 Government Departments to govern Northern Ireland given its relatively small size.
   He raised the idea of cutting Public Service staff numbers, particularly in senior positions, and looked at the high ratio of politicians to members of the public.
   “These may once have been regarded as luxuries to get devolution up and running but in a financial climate in which it is essential that money is wisely spent can they still be justified?” he asked.
   “That’s why I believe the debate will very quickly move from whether Public Sector reform is a good idea to one where we decide how far to go.”
   He said he would not miss the opportunity to strengthen the Province by making the best of the economic crisis and reforming the PS.
   “Either we act now and have the ability to deal with public sector reform in a controlled and organised way or we wait and have it forced upon us in a very few years,” Mr Robinson said.
   “Change as a concept may be popular but transforming it into actions is not easy. As former US President Woodrow Wilson once said, ‘If you want to make enemies try to change something’.”
   Mr Robinson said the need to find better ways to deliver public services was driven by increasing public expectations and “new economic realities”.

18 November, 2008
LIBERIA
PS praised for effectiveness
The Vice-President of Liberia, Joseph Boakai, has praised his African nation’s Public Service saying its performance had been ‘effective’ over the past three years.
   Mr Boakai stressed the importance of an effective Public Service if it was to realise the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), saying “the PRS will be a failure without a good Civil Service Agency”.
   He congratulated the Service on a Public Service tour that followed on from visits by Mr Boakai to Government Ministries and Agencies to acquaint himself with their operations, achievements and challenges.
   While visiting the Public Works Ministry and the Liberia Electricity Corporation, Mr Boakai thanked staff for their good work and highlighted the Service’s Biometric Identification system for helping the Government ensure accountability.
   The Public Service Director-General, Dr William Allen, said the major activity the Service was currently engaged in was reform.
   Dr Allen said this year, the agency had produced a Civil Service Reform plan which formed part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy.
   He said the Service was in the process of restructuring itself with the aim of improving service delivery.
   Dr Allen said the PS would hire trained Liberians from the United States and West Africa, noting there were many qualified Liberians in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone who could help rebuild their country.

18 November, 2008
SOUTH AFRICA
PS failing to attract the best
South Africa’s Public Service Commissioner has admitted that the SA PS was not an employer of choice for many people and had difficulty attracting the “brightest and the best”.
   PS Commissioner, Phelele Tengeni, said the Service was having problems recruiting due to comparatively low salaries, negative images of the Public Service, criticism of public officials and “stifling bureaucracy”.
   Ms Tengeni made the comments at the twelfth annual Public Service Trainers' forum conference, adding the Public Service needed to position itself as an employer of choice by selecting the most suitable candidates for jobs.
   She said since the mid 1990s, many South African companies had become multinational and were deploying their talented workers to globalised firms.
   She said competition from the multinational companies had placed a “great strain” on the Public Service as it offered employees more lucrative jobs.
   Ms Tengeni said the loss of employees from the Service had caused it to struggle to maintain effective and efficient service delivery, and stressed the importance of recruitment and selection.
   “It is imperative that Departments ensure the policies and procedures are put in place to retain, train and develop employees,” Ms Tengeni said.
   “We still have not geared our Public Sector to the responsive, competent and confidence-inspiring institution that we promised it would be.”
   She highlighted the lack of counseling and support for an effective approach to HIV/Aids, despite several HIV/Aids committees having been established.
   Ms Tengeni said a more pro-active approach to establish the health infrastructure was needed.
   “On one hand, there is a great loss of talent through deaths resulting in a decline in the skills base, and on the other hand, the increase in absenteeism negatively impacts on the productivity and ultimately on effective and efficient service delivery,” she said.
   Ms Tengeni said the low level of women and people with disabilities represented in the Service remained a concern.
   In a speech delivered for him by the Director-General, Zwazi Mbanjwa, KwaZulu-Natal Premier, S'bu Ndebele, said the Public Service was a brand and it was imperative “that we work tirelessly to develop and maintain that brand”.
   He said the demand for developing Public Servant competence was especially high as the PS was the largest employer in the country.

18 November, 2008
BELIZE
Union rejects political sackings
The Public Service Union of Belize has spoken out against alleged political layoffs by the newly installed United Democratic Government.
   President of the Union, Jacqueline Willoughby Sanchez, said four out of 10 people on a list to be fired from the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA) had been sent home.
   Ms Sanchez said the problems arose from failure to follow due processes outlined and agreed upon by the Union and the Government.
   She said the Government needed to adhere to the agreement it had signed with the PSU.
“True enough this agreement was not signed under this present Government, but Government is Government,” Ms Sanchez said,
   “We are not saying that people cannot be terminated, we are not saying that. We are saying if you are going to terminate people let’s do so by due process.”
   Leader of the Opposition, John Briceno, said the Government was “systematically trying to fire” staff they believed were supporters of his party, the People’s United Party.
   Ms Sanchez said the PSU would host a number of workshops and seminars for its members.
   She said the workshops would help train executive officers within the Union in grievance handling, conflict resolution and learning regulations.
   “It is only when people are trained and understand how to use the regulation that the mishaps that are happening now in the Public Service will be able to stop,” Ms Sanchez said.
   She said the training would help to enhance the Public Service, which had been experiencing a “breakdown of what the system is” due to a lack of attention to regulation and political interference.
   “Once you know the regulations and know where you fit into the scheme of things and you are able to better produce and better offer public service,” Ms Sanchez said.
   She said the training would be held annually and would be conducted by members of the Public Service with assistance from Public Services International and the Caribbean Public Services Association.

18 November, 2008
BOTSWANA
PS criticised for low productivity
The Permanent Secretary in the Office of Botswana’s President, Bruce Palai, has criticised Botswana’s Public Service for low productivity.
   During a keynote address at an award ceremony, Mr Palai said overall implementation and service delivery had fallen short of expectations.
   He said the 2005 survey of Civil Service performance showed the Service had fallen short of the international benchmark of 75 per cent satisfaction, despite the availability of material resources, budget and infrastructure.
   Mr Palai said some members of the public had suffered indignity at the hands of the Service while others were ignored or sent “from pillar to post” at great cost and inconvenience.
   “It must therefore be admitted that our collective desire to be more customer focused does not come, in most part, out of enlightenment,” he said.
   Mr Palai appealed to all Public Servants to step to ensure they didn’t disappoint the President in service delivery.
   “We need to say to him, you will not be disappointed, for you will find in us servants with a mindset of service,” he said.
   Mr Palai said service delivery was important as the efficiency of the Public Service could determine the level of foreign investment in the country, saying if investors had doubts they would not invest in capital, technology or expertise.
   He said at the ceremony, 48 staff received awards ranging from Clinical Excellent award, Excellent Customer Service, Best support Staff, Employee of the Year, Good Time Management, Long Service and Good Conduct, Professional and Best Mentor awards.

11 November, 2008
UNITED KINGDOM
Top staff urged to be hands-on
A Minister in the British Parliament has raised the prospect of Public Servants being required to spend time in hands-on jobs in the field before being eligible for promotion to the senior ranks.
   Minister for Local Government, John Healey, said time spent delivering at the frontline of the Public Service was among the best preparations there could be for a position of power.
   “The truth is that most officials are highly talented and competent, but they are being asked to design and manage delivery systems which few of them have ever worked in,” Mr Healey said.
   “The Civil Service would produce better policy, deliver improved outcomes and become more credible if senior managers had spent a couple of years in Local Government or another area of frontline service, and better understood the challenges being faced.”
   He said Central Government was changing rapidly, with the Public Service moving away from its traditional focus on policy-making and towards a new set of delivery skills and the development of external capability reviews highlighting areas for improvement had furthered PS reform.
   “But the capability reviews show we need to go further to turn the Civil Service into a delivery machine fit for both current purpose and for future challenges,” he said.
   Mr Healey said Public Service reform was based on professionalism, empowered citizens and strategic leadership and that Public Servants needed to show “new kinds of leadership”.
   “Those who sit in senior positions within Departments must be able to manage complex delivery chains which reach from Ministerial offices in London to the front doors of people in Rotherham and Rotherhithe and Rotherley Down,” he said.
   Mr Healey said with relevant career experience, officials would have greater power to influence, inspire and collaborate with local public bodies.
   “One way of speeding up the pace of change would be to see no Civil Servant rising beyond grade three – two levels below Permanent Secretary – without being able to demonstrate some significant delivery and operational management experience.  “This could be in Local Government or in the commercial world or in the third sector, National Health Service, education, jobs and training fields.”
   Mr Healey said officials who had hands-on experience would better understand how policy played out in practice and would have a deeper appreciation of how frontline staff operated.
   “I believe we should establish the principle that the seams of talent within our Civil Service are of top quality only when they have first been enriched in the field,” he said.

11 November, 2008
UNITED STATES
President elect appoints staff
The transition to power of United States President-elect, Barack Obama has begun with a number of senior administrative appointments already being made and more in the pipeline.
   Senator Obama has already named fellow Democrat representative Rahm Emmanuel as his White House Chief of Staff and has officially begun a transition operation under the direction of former White House Chief of Staff, John Podesta.
   Senator Obama said he would move with “deliberate haste” to make Cabinet appointments.
   “When we have an announcement to make about Cabinet appointments, we will make it,” he said
   Transition Co-chairman for Senator Obama, Valerie Jarrett, said the President-elect planned for his staff to represent a cross-section of America.
   “President-elect Obama, as should be no surprise to anyone in this room, would like his Cabinet to be diverse - both in terms of race, in terms of perspective, in terms of party, in terms of geography,” Ms Jarrett said.
   “Not because it's the politically expedient thing to do, but because he would make better decisions by having diversity.”
   Senator Obama’s approach to appointments and other senior positions could mean he would not name staff, including the highly anticipated decision regarding Treasury Secretary, immediately.
   He was expected to operate out of Chicago for the majority of the transition, with staff members hinting there might be some “out of the box” choices for top jobs.
   Speculation over whether Senator Obama would ask Defence Secretary Robert Gates to stay on to help plan a withdrawal from Iraq has not yet been quelled by an announcement from the President-elect.
   Presidential Scholar with the Brookings Institution, Stephen Hess, said Senator Obama was “extremely good at running for office”, but that no one could predict what would happen next.
   “There's no school for presidents. A lot of this is on-the-job training, and we take a lot on faith,” Mr Hess said.
   Senator Obama’s aides would like to see his transition operation run more smoothly than that of President-Elect Bill Clinton in 1992, where the former President named most of his top staff just five days before his inauguration.
   The transition   process began around 10 weeks ago when Senator Obama asked Mr Podesta to begin a full-scale review of the Federal Government and to compile lists of potential appointments.
   Among those under consideration for top jobs were New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and retired Marine Corps commandant Jim Jones.
   Senator Obama’s shortlist included former Treasury Secretaries Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin; President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy Geithner; Attorney-General candidates Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano; Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius; and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.
   However, with a lame duck session of Congress expected to convene on 17 November, in which lawmakers who lost their bids for re-election and would not be in the next Congress (hence the expression lame duck) still participated, Senator Obama’s effort to create a smooth transition could face tests almost immediately.
   He is yet to decide whether to take part in the proceedings or to keep his distance.

11 November, 2008
IRELAND
Performance pay not performing
The Government of Ireland has announced it intends to review its performance pay system for Public Servants.
   The review, which is planned to take place next year, was announced after the pay system came under fire for the way it was implemented.
   It followed recent revelations that almost every single staff member in the Public Service received a pay rise of up to €6,000 (A$11,500) last year due to managers ignoring the pay scheme’s guidelines.
   The Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) was designed by consultants in 2004.
   The PMDS had a five-point scale on which to rate staff - 'one' being the worst and 'five' the best.
   The designers of the system, Mercer Consultants, had estimated 20 per cent of staff would fall into the 'one' and 'two' categories, compared with the 1.6 per cent (300 staff) who actually received the lower grades.
   A spokesperson for the Department of Finance told the Irish Independent newspaper that the 20 per cent guideline cited by Mercer for 'one' and 'two' ratings was not “a target allocation”.
   However, Leo Varadkar from the United Ireland Party, Fine Gael said the review was “an excuse so the Government don't have to do anything for another year or so”.

11 November, 2008
CHINA
Finance woes boost PS recruiting
The global financial crisis may be creating economic havoc around the world but in China it is making Public Service careers more attractive.
   Amid the turmoil, financial and securities companies were expected to cut staff numbers and that produced the side-effect of making Government jobs more appealing.
   The International Labour Organisation has estimated the crisis was likely to cost 20 million jobs across the world by the end of next year.
   Unemployment in China has become a concern, with weakening demand from its major markets, North America and Europe, leading the country’s export sector into a tough situation.
   A labour economist from China Academy of Social Sciences, Wang Dewen, said despite China’s US$2 trillion in foreign reserves, its budget surplus and controlled capital market, the international economic downturn had not been without negative effects.
   “The greatest impact is on these labour-intensive, small and medium-sized export enterprises,” Mr Wang said.
   He said the export-oriented enterprises that made China the world's workshop were mainly small- and medium-sized and were vulnerable to market changes.
   He said they were China's major employers, absorbing 70 per cent of the aggregate 20 million new jobs every year.
   Mr Wang said the lower-end labour market, particularly migrant workers, would suffer from unemployment.
   The crisis has been affecting everyone, including a student of Economics, Yang Chanjuan, who planned to work in the financial sector after graduating.
   However, following advice regarding job cuts from her friends in the sector, Ms Yang decided to instead pursue a Government career.
   In the United States, big companies such as Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, Motorola and Alcoa have all announced job cuts, with economists saying the jobless total could increase by 200,000.

11 November, 2008
PHILIPPINES
Death fund to support PS families
The families of Public Servants killed at work in the Philippines are to be eligible for assistance following the establishment of a special fund by the nation’s Civil Service Commission.
   The Commission (CSC) launched the Pamanang Lingkod Bayan Fund and Scholarship program, following a donation of one million Philippines Pesos (A$31,000) by President Gloria Arroyo from her Social Fund.
   CSC Chairman, Ricardo Saludo, came up with the program and said he, Vice President Noli de Castro and Federation of Philippine Industries President, Jesus Arranza, had each contributed P100,000 (A$3,100) to the program.
   Mr Saludo said other Government Agencies, including the Commission on Audit, Department of Interior and Local Government-National Capital Region, Land Bank of the Philippines, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Pag-IBIG Fund, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Home Guaranty Corp. had also pledged financial support.
   He said the program aimed to acknowledge that people within Government had “given their lives in selfless and often heroic service” while completing their duties to the Public.
   The family of teacher Filomena Tatlonghari, who was killed 13 years ago for refusing to give a ballot box to armed men while on election duty, would be among those to receive compensation.During the launch, President Arroyo gave a cheque worth P20,000 (A$620) to Galileo Banaag Jr, husband of teacher and election supervisor Nelly Banaag who was burned to death by armed men during the May 2007 elections.
   Mr Saludo said the CSC and the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) had agreed to provide University Scholarships to the family of Public Service staff, including teachers and police, who had died in the line of duty.
   Under the program, the family staff who were honored posthumously in the CSC's annual Search for Outstanding Public Officials and Employees, would be entitled to financial assistance and scholarship grant to one of 110 educational institutions.
   Mr Saludo said families would receive one full scholarship, a 75 percent discount on tuition and school fees for the second beneficiary and a 50 percent discount for the third beneficiary.

11 November, 2008
MALAYSIA
PS efficiency seminar attracts a crowd
A seminar designed to improve the efficiency and attitude of Public Servants has been held by the Government of the Malaysian State of Selangor, in partnership with the Petaling Jaya City Council.
   One hundred and sixty-three participants, including heads of Departments, took part in the three-day Emotional and Spiritual Quotient (ESQ) leadership seminar.
   State Executive Councillor, Dr Hasan Mohamed Ali, who is the Chairman of the State Islamic Affairs, Malay Customs, Infrastructure and Public Amenities Committee, launched the workshop, saying it was aimed at creating awareness of the “importance of referring to the Almighty in our every move.”
   Dr Hasan said the ESQ was based on a model founded by Indonesian Dr Ary Ginanjar Agustian, and focused on integrating the rationality of the business word and spirituality.
   “This seminar is in line with the SPIES approach that has been enthusiastically advocated by the State Government to produce individuals who excel in Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Social aspects,” he said.
   The Deputy Mayor of Petaling Jaya, Puasa Md Taib, said the program would benefit the participants and the organisations they worked for.
   “The program will also help Civil Servants understand the direction the new administration is going in, and it helps instill a working attitude that is excellent, productive, reliable and competent,” he said.
   He said the participants would be taught to achieve seven fundamental values -honesty, responsibility, vision, discipline, cohesion, fairness and care.
   “These values will also uncover the hidden potential of every individual, which should be applied to his or her work and life to reach a higher notch and to create an excellent organisation.”

11 November, 2008
SOUTH AFRICA
Disability policies criticised
The South African Public Service has been criticised for its attitude towards people with disabilities.
   Deputy Arts and Culture Minister, Ntombazana Botha has accused the PS of failing to cater properly for people who had disabilities.
   Ms Botha made the accusations at the launch of an exhibition of works by people with disabilities at the National Cultural History Museum.
   “We are not doing well with disability equity in the Public Service,” Ms Botha said.
   She said she was disturbed that her Department was lagging in the way it catered for people with disabilities.
   “But I am happy that the Department has now taken the initiative to assist people with disabilities,” she said.
   “The profiling of people with disabilities should be high on our agenda.”
   Ms Botha said the majority of people with disabilities came from poorer provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
   “We need to put more resources in those provinces,” she said.
   “We also need to eradicate poverty, especially among people with disabilities.”
   Ms Botha said South Africans would celebrate the International Day of People with Disabilities on 3 December.
   “The major focus is on raising awareness through practical action,” she said.
   The exhibition’s works included photographs from a coffee table book, Look at Me, a work telling the stories of disabled South African women.
   Ms Botha said the book profiled the women in a holistic way, portraying them as having the same needs and skills as other women.
   Marlene le Roux, who compiled the coffee table book, said it was aimed at changing perceptions about people with disabilities.
   “It is hoped that it will change the mindset of South Africans,” Ms le Roux said.
   She said life was particularly challenging for people with disabilities as they were “lumped together” unfairly.

11 November, 2008
KENYA
Top policy bodies strengthened
The President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki has announced a number of senior Public Service appointments and the strengthening of the National Economic and Social Council.
   The Council was set up by the President to develop policies and programs that would propel Kenya into the ranks of emerging and fast-developing nations in the shortest time possible.
   President Kibaki announced four extra Ministries would be added to the Council with the Ministers in charge of Lands, Tourism, Foreign Affairs and Youth Affairs becoming part of the team.
   He said they would join Prime Minister Ralia Odinga, the two deputy Prime Ministers, Uhuru Kenyatta (Trade) and Musalia Mudavadi (Local Government), and 12 other Cabinet ministers who were already Council members.
   He said the expanded team also included representatives from the private sector.
   President Kibaki said the Council was expected to advise the Government on policies aimed towards accelerated economic growth, social equity, employment creation and reducing poverty and inequality.
   The President also announced some new appointments at the top of the Kenyan Public Service.
   The appointments were:
    • Rachel Arunga as Commissioner of the Public Service Commission;
    • Mary Ngare as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands;
    • Philip Okundi as Chairman of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK);
    • Professor J. K Ole Karei as Chairman of Narok University College with Hellen Jepkoech Cheramboss his deputy.
    • Rosemary Nyanjom as Deputy Chairperson of the Public Service Commission;
    • Shukri Baramadi as Chairman of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA); and
    • Jacob Kabutu Mwirigi as head of the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.

    11 November, 2008
    NIGERIA
    Corruption watchdogs called ineffective
    The two anti-corruption organisations established in Nigeria to combat graft in the Government and Public Service have been criticised for their ineffectiveness with one prominent commentator saying until the PS was “repositioned and restored to its old glory” corruption would remain an “untenable monster.”
       The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) were established around eight years ago by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
       The EFCC was declared successful in securing Court convictions for fee fraudsters but not for Public Servants, with its only high profile conviction being that of the Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, whose punishment was widely perceived to be a ‘slap on the wrist.’
       Critics raised concerns over its lack of success in tracking down corrupt Public Servants and the ineffectiveness of the rules and regulations guiding the day-to-day activities of the PS.
       Veteran Journalist, Peter Ajayi, said the Official Secret Order, General Order and Financial Regulations, which were the “Bible and Quran” of the PS, had not been amended or abrogated.
       “These are the instruments that encompass the much-touted due process. In fact, due process is not a novel idea, and it must not be seen as such. It has always been there,” Mr Ajayi said.
       “These are the instruments that gave power to career Civil Servants to put a check on the pilfering tendencies of political officeholders in the past. But curiously, I doubt if such exist now or better still, if a Civil Servant is inclined to evoke them.”
       Mr Ajayi said since President Obasanjo had been in power, the confidence and diligence of Civil Servants had given way to a PS inclined to “grab whatever is available before the sledgehammer comes crashing”.
       He said when the Permanent Secretary’s office was redesigned as Director-General, “most civil servants became politicians in service, lobbing to get what was not due to them”.
       The Registrar of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria, Dele Togunde, said the PS had systems in place to ensure accountability and to make it almost impossible to steal from the till.
       Mr Togunde said top Public Servants could not be faulted on issues of policy implementation, and commended current President Umaru Yar'Adua for restoring Permanent Secretaries to career status, saying he was moving towards victory in the war against graft.
       “That Yar'Adua is bringing it back is a good development. I only hope that the contamination that has been introduced to the system can be corrected,” he said.
       Human Resources expert, Funso Korode, said the decision by former President Obasanjo to remove some Permanent Secretaries was not all bad, but had taken away the “inbuilt confidence inherent in the Service”.
       “The moment Government made the position impermanent, people started scampering for what they could get and ensure that life after work is guaranteed,” Mr Korode said.

    11 November, 2008
    FRANCE
    TV ad ban shakes up public roadcasting
    The decision to ban advertising on France’s public television has been hailed as the most important reform of French broadcasting in 20 years.
       Culture and Communication Minister, Christine Albanel, said the far-reaching media reform was sparked by a report from the Commission for a New Television chaired by Jean-François Copé and the support shown for the ad ban by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
       Ms Albanel said the reform, which would see the ban come into effect by 2009, had two main features.
       She said it would relieve Public Service television from commercial pressures and would encourage the emergence of “global media”.
       Ms Albanel said advertising on the five France Télévisions terrestrial channels would be gradually phased out between 8pm and 6 am from 5 January 2009, before being totally scrapped following the completion of the digital switchover in 2011.
       She said this aimed to give broadcasters more freedom to develop creative and high-quality programs for their audiences.
       Two new taxes would be introduced to make up for the loss of revenue.
       A three per cent tax on advertising revenues of commercial TV channels would be introduced along with a tax of around 0.9 per cent on the electronic communications sector (e.g. mobile phone operators).
       Ms Albanel said the licence fee, which was currently €116 (A$222), would be indexed to inflation.
       She said commercial networks would be partially compensated for the new taxes by being allowed to extend their advertisement breaks in the evenings to target peak viewing times.
       Ms Albanel said the reform would remodel the structure of France Télévisions by transforming it into a single company composed of several networks.
       She said the company would give French citizens access to Public Service broadcasting content thanks to the development of digital technology
       Responsibility for appointing the heads of the national program companies would rest with Mr Sarkozy who would make his choice taking pluralism and media independence into account.
       Ms Albanel said the choice would also have to be approved by the Higher Council for the Audiovisual Sector (CSA), France’s broadcasting authority.
       She said the reform provided the opportunity to create a powerful French and Francophone media group to stimulate greater awareness of France and its culture abroad.

    4 November, 2008
    UNITED STATES
    PS playing politics in election campaign
    Public Servants in the United States have become increasingly involved in the politics of the Presidency, sparking an unprecedented number of complaints to the Office of Special Counsel.
       Under US law, public officials faced suspension or dismissal for getting too involved in political activity. The rules that govern Federal as well as some State and Local Government employees were enshrined in the ‘Hatch Act’.
       Chief of the Hatch Act unit of the Office of Special Counsel, Ana Galindo-Marrone, said the Hatch Act restricted rather than prohibited political activity by workers.
       Ms Galindo-Marrone said there were “absolutely” more complaints this year, with her office receiving 445 complaints so far compared to 282 from 2007.
       “Going back through fiscal year 2003, the highest we've ever received is 299 cases,” she said. “This year is unprecedented.”
       She said a recent case involved a NASA employee who was suspended without pay for 180 days for using his work e-mail to send partisan political messages and posting partisan comments on his blog while at work.
       The restrictions imposed by the Act have received mixed views from Public Servants.
       A National Labour Relations Board Attorney, Peter Winkler, said he liked the restrictions and thought they were “a small price to pay for the neutrality of the government”.
       Mr Winkler said he was glad employees were protected “from harassment either by political appointees or overzealous supervisory personnel” and appreciated the effort his Agency made to educate employees about the Act’s provisions
       However, a computer specialist for the Navy, Harry Spafford, said the constitution provided him with the right to express his views and concerns.
       “But as a federal employee, I don't have the right to do that because of the Hatch Act,” Mr Spafford said.
       A representative of the National Federation of Federal Employees, John Griffin, agreed saying the Act discouraged well-qualified people from running for elected office.
       “To me, the Hatch Act should be abolished in its entirety,” Mr Griffin said.
       The Hatch Act was established in 1939, while policies restricting political activity dated from as early as Thomas Jefferson’s administration which ran from 1801 to 1809.
       President Jefferson’s administration said “it is expected that [federal workers] will not attempt to influence the votes of others nor take part in the business of electioneering”.
       However, the Hatch Act allowed PS employees to participate in electioneering.
       The Office of Special Council said “while federal employees are still prohibited from seeking public office in partisan elections, most employees are free to work, while off duty, on the partisan campaigns of candidates of their choice”.
       Ms Galindo-Marrone said penalties for disobeying the act ranged from a 30-day suspension to dismissal.

    4 November, 2008
    SARDINIA
    Island goes Open Source
    The Government of the Italian island of Sardinia has announced plans to become the first in Italy to operate its Public Service entirely on open source software.
       A Bill promoting the open source software was approved by the Regional Government and was set to be passed into law in January 2009.
       Councillor responsible for general affairs, Massimo Dadea, said Sardinia promoted and used solutions based on free software to reduce public spending, to favour the possibility of re-use and the interoperability of components produced by suppliers using open protocols and formats.
       Mr Dadea said Article Nine of the Bill required the regional Public Service to cite reasons justifying any choice of proprietary software over an open-source alternative.
       He said the Bill gave companies bidding for public contracts extra points in the tender process if their proposal made use of open-source software.
       Mr Dadea said the Bill had had a “fairly difficult ride” before being approved.
       “It has run into cultural difficulties and there may have been some lobbying activity against it, so its passage though the council may encounter difficulties too,” Mr Dadea said.
       He said Sardinia had drawn on the experience of regions such as Emilia and Tuscany which had also passed laws encouraging the adoption of open source software, but that the Sardinian Bill had gone much further.
       “The novelty is that we put together the promotion of open-source software with measures intended to promote a knowledge-based society,” he said.
       “That means investing in research and development, new technology, and human resources as well.”
       Mr Dadea said the law would boost local software enterprises and encourage experimentation and innovation.
       He said the Bill also included an article calling for a partnership between the Sardinian Research Agency and local businesses, academic institutions and the regional PS to promote the development of an information society.
       “This Bill is not aimed against anybody and it will not introduce rigidities into the system,” Mr Dadea said.

    4 November, 2008
    CHINA
    New entrants caught cheating
    Public Servants in China have been shocked by a Court finding that an official in the Shenzhen Bureau of Human Resources was guilty of taking bribes to help people pass Public Service entrance exams for appointment to various Local Government Departments.
       The accused official, a mid-ranking Public Servant, allegedly collected almost one million yuan (A$219,500) in bribe money over the past seven years.
       The case raised fears that the state-run Public Service examinations, which were regarded as almost sacred in some quarters, were not above corruption and were no longer effectively promoting job competition.
       The concern of Public Servants was recorded in online chat-rooms, where bloggers demanded investigations into the allegations and demanded that people who bribed their way into the Service be dismissed.
       Obtaining a job in the Chinese Public Service has become extremely difficult since the period of economic reform during the 1980s, with a university degree now required simply to qualify for a post.
       A survey conducted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League showed 70 per cent of the 5 million university graduates in 2007 could not find a job.
       Statistics from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security showed 1.04 million qualified candidates enrolled for October’s exams for just 13,000 vacancies in Central Government Departments and Institutions. This was an average of 80 candidates for every position, up from last year’s which was 60 to 1.
       The allegations of bribery and cheating have also enraged candidates, who believed processes were in place to encourage competition for the highly sought-after jobs.
       The entrance exams were reinstated during Civil Service reforms in 1994, returning the application process to a tradition that could be traced back to the Tang dynasty (618-707 AD).
       Traditionally, all public officials were selected from the nation’s Confucian scholars through State exams, giving every scholar an equal opportunity for entrance and ensuring the Government recruited talented employees.
       The resumption of the exams was extremely popular with the public, as it was seen as an effective check on nepotism.

    4 November, 2008
    UNITED STATES
    Plans for merit-based PS dropped
    Plans by the United States’ Bush Administration to phase out seniority-based pay and promotions in the US Federal Public Service and replace them with a merit-based system have been abandoned.
       After six years of resistance from unions and despite revising Agency directives, the Administration has given up on its ambitious plan which was to make its debut in the Department of Homeland Security and then spread thorough the Service starting with the giant Department of Defense.
       The move to dump the plan was signalled by the Chief Human Capital Officer at DHS, Thomas D. Cairns, who announced the Agency would “rescind application of its new human resources system” and then an announcement by the Pentagon that it was scaling back implementation of its role in the new system.
       Following the announcements at Defense, only 205,000 non-union workers would be evaluated under the merit system, with the remaining 475,000 Public Servants continuing in the existing General Schedule for Federal pay and promotion.
       The move has been called a ‘significant setback’ for President Bush’s efforts to overhaul the PS job system, which underwent its last major upgrade in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter.  
       The current General Schedule, which has 15 pay grades and 10 interim levels of compensation between successive pay grades, would have been replaced with a pay-for-performance system similar to those in the private sector.
       Critics said the Government had overplayed its hand by using work rule changes to challenge Government collective-bargaining agreements, with union leaders claiming the abandonment of the plan was self-inflicted.
       General Counsel for the US’s largest Federal Employee union, Mark Roth, said the Government was “given a blank cheque” which they “overwrote”.
       The policy was, however, endorsed by the Brookings Institution in 2003 through its National Commission on the Public Service, when it said the General Schedule rewarded mediocrity and punished initiative.
       “Quality of performance, which ought to be the central factor in determining compensation, is too often ignored,” the Institute said in its report.
       Program Executive for the Pentagon’s new personnel system, Brad Bunn, said he believed what had been accomplished in the past six years was enough to stand as the first major Public Service overhaul in a generation.
       “What we said back in the early days... is that this represents the largest change to civil service rules in 25 years, and I still think that holds true,” Mr Bunn said.
       The scheme is still set to affect non-union white-collar workers at Defense, but has left DHS officials uncertain of how their workplace rules would be refashioned.
       DHS spokesman, Larry Orluskie, said it planned to move ahead with a new system it had devised for evaluating employee performance, even though the evaluations would not translate as directly into pay-rate decisions.

    4 November, 2008
    UNITED KINGDOM
    Apprentice numbers to double
    The Government of the United Kingdom has announced it would double the number of apprentices working in the UK Civil Service.
       Skills secretary, John Denham, said more than 1,000 apprentices would work in Central Government Departments and Agencies this academic year, showing more than a 100 per cent increase on the original target number.
       Mr Denham said Whitehall Departments had committed to expanding the number of apprenticeship places available in the Civil Service and that 500 new apprentices had begun to train in September.
       He called on the Public Sector to increase apprenticeship numbers as the International financial crisis helped lead the UK towards recession.
       “Public sector apprenticeships are going to be even more important in the current economic climate, and they offer a key opportunity to enable young people and adults to reach their potential and help see us through the current difficulties,” Mr Denham said.
       "But while the Civil Service is showing the way ahead, the wider Public sector needs to do more.”
       Mr Denham said he would be working with colleagues across the Government to improve the take-up rates of new apprenticeships in other areas such as health and Local Government.

    4 November, 2008
    NORTHERN IRELAND
    Sick leave getting better
    Public Servants in Northern Ireland have cut back on the levels of sick leave they are taking but are still well above Government targets.
       Research by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency found the latest sick leave levels had decreased this year, from 13.7 to 12.9 days per employee, but were still short of the Government’s preferred target of 9.5 days.
       Minister for Finance, Nigel Dodds, said it was important for the number of sick days being taken to keep falling.
       Mr Dodds said that in May, the Public Accounts Committee found the Public Service sickness levels were double those of the private sector.
       “Long term absence is an area which we need to target for particular attention and action,” he said.
       “The need for action in this area has been reinforced by the Northern Ireland Audit Office and more recently by the Public Accounts Committee in their hard-hitting reports.”
       Mr Dodds said while the Government accepted that more work was required to tackle the high levels of sickness absence across the Service, he believed it was important to acknowledge the 43 per cent of staff who did not take any sick leave at all during 2007/08.

    4 November, 2008
    CANADA
    Technology achievements recognised
    Achievements in Government technology in Canada have been recognised at the 15th national GTEC forum on the use of technology to improve Government services and operations.
       GTEC 2008 was held in Ottawa at the end of last month and recognised outstanding PS leadership in innovation in Federal, Provincial, Municipal and national classifications.
       Thirty-five Distinction Awards were awarded to Agencies and individuals in categories such as International Partnerships, Service Delivery to Citizens and Businesses, and Cross-Jurisdictional Partnerships.
       Executive Director of GTEC 2008, Kevin d’Entremont, said the awards celebrated technology and innovation throughout industry and Government, which was “driving better collaboration, reducing costs and improving efficiencies and service delivery to Canadians”.
       “Many of the initiatives have demonstrated significant change and tremendous innovation,” Mr d’Entremont said.
       “We are proud to recognise major IT projects and the accomplishments of industry and Government’s top IT leaders, their innovative teams, and their contribution to improve services available to citizens across Canada.”
       Health Canada, the City of Ottawa, and the province of Alberta took four medals each for achievements in Service Delivery to Citizens and Businesses and IT Operations.
       The Canada Revenue Agency was awarded two medals for projects in Service Delivery to Citizens and Business and IT Operations.
       Assistant Deputy Minister of Labour and Citizens’ Services for British Columbia, John Bethel, won a Gold Medal Leadership award for helping the Government execute 10 deals worth $1.8 billion.
       The deals were expected to generate $550 million in financial benefits to the Government plus other significant non-financial benefits.
       The 100 nominations were reviewed and judged by 30 members of the Society of Collaborative Opportunities and Advancement of Professionals, a non-profit association dedicated to the management of information and technology.
       The winners were:

    FEDERAL AWARDS
    Service Delivery to Citizens & Businesses
    • Health Canada’s Alberta Region for its First Nations and Inuit Health, Public Health Surveillance (HAS) Capacity Development Project
    Internal Business Operations
    • Fisheries and Oceans Canada for its IT Sustainability Project - DFO
    IT Operations
    • Health Canada’s The Way Forward Initiative - An Enterprise Approach to IT

    PROVINCIAL AWARDS
     Service Delivery to Citizens & Businesses
    • British Columbia’s Court Services Online Project Team for its Business Transformation & Change Management and Strategic Information & Business Applications
    • Nova Scotia’s Department of Health for its iPHIM Project to deliver eResults
    Internal Business Operations
    • The Ministry of the Attorney General’s Facilities Management Information System (FMIS)

    MUNICIPAL AWARDS
    Service Delivery to Citizens & Businesses
    • City of Ottawa’s eFootprint Application on www.ottawa.ca
    Internal Business Operations
    • City of Ottawa’s Social Housing Administration Management Information System (SHAMIS)
    IT Operations
    • City of Windsor’ Mainframe Migration

    NATIONAL AWARDS
    Information Management
    • British Columbia’s Ministry of Forests and Range for its SOSS – Sign-Out Security System
    Cross-Jurisdictional Partnerships
    • Service Canada’s Parental Benefit Exchange Project Team
    International Partnerships
    • Health Canada’s Health Product Electronic Submissions (e-Submissions)
    Pilot Projects
    • Natural Resources Canada’s NRCan Resource Wiki Information Management Branch
    The Human Dimension
    • Alberta Education’s Videoconferencing in the K-12 Education System
    Unique Achievements
    • National Defence’s Joint Information & Intelligence Fusion Capability Detachment Ops/Web Support Team
    Leadership Awards
    • Assistant Deputy Minister - Alternative Service Delivery with British Columbia’s Ministry of Labour and Citizens’ Services, John Bethel

    4 November, 2008
    SOUTH AFRICA
    Governing party accused of interfering in PS
    South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has been accused of interfering in Public Service appointments.  
       Leader of the Opposition Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille has called on the South African Public Service Commission (PSC) to investigate.  
       Ms Zille wrote to the head of the PSC, Stan Sangweni, following a newspaper report alleging supporters of ANC president, Jacob Zuma had tried to remove senior provincial Public Servants from their positions and replace them with others sympathetic to Mr Zuma.
       “The report presents documentary evidence of attempts by Jacob Zuma's supporters in Limpopo, Northern Cape and the Free State to remove certain senior public servants and appoint others on the basis of their political affiliation to Zuma,” Ms Zille said.
       She said the ANC believed it had the right to control all appointments in the Public Service based on factional loyalty.
       “It does not,” she said.
       “The ANC's policy of cadre deployment - often disguised by the fig leaf of affirmative action - is unconstitutional,” Ms Zille said.
       “The Constitution clearly states that it is the role of Provincial Governments - not political parties - to make appointments to the Public Service in provincial administrations."
       Ms Zille said a newspaper report had suggested that constitutional provisions had been “contravened all over the country”.

    4 November, 2008
    NIGERIA
    PS attitude change needed
    The President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, has called for productivity improvements in the African nation’s Public Service, saying a total attitudinal change was necessary if planned reforms were to be successful.
       President Yar’Adua said the ongoing reforms would help the Public Service become more effective and efficient.
       He addressed the 38th Annual Conference of the Civil Service Commissions at Jigawa State, saying the service had to embrace change or run the risk of losing its ‘essence’.
       “The public is becoming increasingly more enlightened and vocal about the rights of the citizens and the responsibilities of Government and the Private Sector,” he said.
       “As the reality of globalisation confronts us, there is no hiding place for organisations which are driven by quality service delivery and which still adopt antiquated facilities and methods.”
       President Yar’Adua said his administration was committed to attaining Vision 20-20, which would see Nigeria among the top 20 economies in the world by 2020.
       He said an attitude change was needed in the institutionalisation of good governance ideals to ensure effective service delivery.
       He told the conference to focus on transforming the PS into a modern, inventive, competitive, efficient and creative Service to help grow the economy to achieve Vision 20-20.
       Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Ambassador Ahmed Al-Gazali, said the Commission had implemented some of the reforms, firing around 40,000 unwanted staff nation-wide.
       Ambassador Al-Gazali said President Yar’Adua had approved a number of staff be hired for highly skilled positions and that the Commission was striving to instill positive attitudes in the Service.
       He said ‘serious steps’ were being taken to cooperate with Public Service Commissions in other African countries, including holding regular conferences to discuss common issues.
       Also speaking at the Conference, Governor Sule Lamido thanked the Civil Service Commission for holding the 38th conference and said his administration had managed to reduce the State Ministries from 45 to 15.

    4 November, 2008
    WALES
    Major changes at the top
    The new Permanent Secretary in the Assembly Government of Wales, Dame Gillian Morgan has signalled major changes at the top of the Welsh Public Service.
       Dame Gillian said she was looking to drive a new delivery culture in the Public Service when she reduced the existing ‘management team’ from 21 directors to six, and created four new posts of ‘Director General’.
       She said the new posts had been advertised at £130,000 (A$318,000) per year plus annual bonuses, suggesting all incumbents would be subjected to a rigorous selection process and there would be outside competition for the new positions.
       Dame Gillian, a former medical consultant and health executive, had also given the new Director Generals broader responsibilities for delivery themes such as Sustainable Futures, Public Services and Local Government Delivery, People, Places and Corporate Services and Finance.
       She said the new make-up would “cross-cut” Assembly Government Departments to focus on delivery but that specialist advice to Ministers would continue.
       She said fears about increased costs would be dampened because the cost of the exercise would be neutral.