Kenyan court stymies Haiti deployment

NAIROBI (January 26): Kenya’s High Court has ruled against a Government decision to deploy a contingent of police officers to Haiti.

The deployment would have been part of a United Nations-backed law-and-order mission to the strife-torn Caribbean nation. However, the court ruled the plan “unconstitutional, illegal and invalid”.

The Government says it will appeal.

Kenya had been prepared to send up to 1,000 police and security personnel to Haiti, the first 300 of whom had been expected to arrive in the coming days.

Chad, Senegal, Jamaica, Belize, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda have also pledged officers, bringing the total number of personnel to around 3,000.

The international community and the Haitian Government have long been seeking a multinational force to help combat rising gang violence which saw almost 5,000 people murdered last year alone.

However, many countries are wary of supporting Prime Minister, Ariel Henry's unelected administration, governing in the aftermath of the former President's assassination, and intervening in a nation where previous missions have been dogged by human rights abuses.

A Kenyan Government spokesperson said it "respects the rule of law and has made the decision to challenge the High Court's verdict forthwith".

"The Government reiterates its commitment in honouring its international obligations," the spokesperson said.

*********

Minister bans workday diversity meetings

LONDON (January 25): New United Kingdom Cabinet Minister, John Glen wants Civil Service diversity network meetings to be held outside working hours as part of his crackdown on political activism.

“Impartiality guidance could also be changed to make it clear that any work on identity and inclusion issues should not be a vehicle for taking an agenda into the workplace,” Mr Glen said.  

“When I was in the private sector, these activities were things we did at breakfast before we started work and in the evenings, and that to me is where the orientation of these things should be headed.”

Mr Glen has also reportedly said that Home Office Civil Servants who are unwilling to follow Ministers’ instructions to ignore European court rulings to ground flights of deported asylum seekers to Rwanda should be sacked.

*********

Malaysian pay ‘inadequate for living’

KUALA LUMPUR (January 25): The head of Malaysia’s main Public Service union says current wage levels of Government employees are inadequate to cover living expenses, given the rise in the cost of living.

President of the Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs), Adnan Mat called for measures to increase the salaries of Public Servants to be implemented immediately, without having to wait for the full implementation of the new Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA).

"Although the Government says the new SSPA system may be ready by the end of this year, we hope the salaries of Civil Servants will be increased before that,” Mr Adnan said.

He proposed an immediate monthly increase of RM300 ($A96.60), which could be readjusted once the new SSPA was ready to be implemented.

*********

Dutch PM may be heading for NATO

 

THE HAGUE (January 23): Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte is considered likely to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as the next Secretary General of NATO.

 

While Mr Rutte (56) has previously declined the post, the fact he is expected to step down after disappointing election results may well tempt him to change his mind.

 

However, he will have to negotiate the labyrinthine process of choosing a new NATO chief, as each of the Alliance’s 31 countries have to agree in closed-door negotiations.

 

As a result Mr Stoltenberg, who has been in the job for a decade, has twice tried to quit and each time has been prevailed upon to continue in office after NATO members could not agree on a replacement.

 

*********

Taiwan ramps up military service

TAIPEI (January 26): Taiwan’s extended period of National Service has begun, with the first group of new recruits scheduled to serve for a full year.

Men aged 18 or older are obliged to serve, although previously it was for only a four-month period.

More than 9,100 recruits are to join the military under the extended scheme this year, the changes resulting from China’s increasing pressure on the island republic it has always regarded as a renegade Province.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defence said the new recruits would receive “stepped-up training…from an early stage in their service, they will acquire shooting skills and knowhow on rescuing injured fellow soldiers”.

*********

General sanctioned for Shrine visit

TOKYO (January 26): Japan’s Defence Ministry has reprimanded a senior military official who used an official car for a visit to Tokyo's war-linked Yasukuni Shrine, often seen as a symbol of the country's past militarism.

However, in a statement the Ministry said Lieutenant General Hiroki Kobayashi, who is Vice Chief of Staff of the Ground Self Defence Force (GSDF), visited the shrine in a private capacity “based on free will” and was not subject to any further penalty.

Other members of the GSDF who accompanied General Kobayashi to the shrine have received reprimands, written or verbal cautions.    

Past visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese lawmakers have been a source of diplomatic friction with China and South Korea as the shrine honours the World War II dead, including Japanese leaders who were convicted as war criminals in an international tribunal.

        A regular update of Public Service news and events from around the world

 

Union calls for ‘public disobedience’

BELFAST (January 18): One of Northern Ireland’s largest trade unions has called for a campaign of “public disobedience” to protect public services in the Province.

The Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (Nipsa), which represents thousands of Civil Servants and other public sector workers, said the narrative that “normalises the erosion” of services must be disrupted.

Teachers, nurses, health workers, education support workers, police staff and Civil Servants were among those who took part in a ‘day of action’ over an outstanding pay award for public sector workers.

The trade unions involved have a combined membership of more than 150,000 workers who took part in large-scale demonstrations and parades across the Province.

The economic loss due to the strike action has been estimated at more than £10 million ($A19 million).

Deputy General Secretary of Nipsa, Patrick Mulholland said the very fabric that binds communities together was being torn apart by cuts, privatisation and neglect.

“The unions have been battling to protect our vital services, but it is time for the public to take a stand, to make their voices heard and to play their part in the fight,” Mr Mulholland said.

“Alongside this day of actions I am calling for a campaign of public disobedience and resistance against the dismantling of our public services, because we must disrupt the narrative that normalises the erosion of our services.”

*********

Top job for sacked Norwegian Minister

OSLO (January 17): Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre has defied a storm of criticism by appointing his sacked Foreign Minister, Anniken Huitfeldt to be the country’s next Ambassador to the United States.

It is only three months since he dismissed Ms Huitfeldt after her husband’s stock trading landed her in various conflicts of interest.

“If this happens, Jonas Gahr Støre is exhibiting very poor judgment,” Leader of the Opposition Progress Party, Sylvi Listhaug said in a newspaper interview.

Other critics include professors, political commentators, editorial writers at several of Norway’s major newspapers and professional diplomats within Norway’s Foreign Ministry, all claiming that the conflict-of-interest issue aside, there are more qualified applicants for the post.

*********

Officers advised to say no to gifts

SINGAPORE (January 19): Sources within the Singapore Public Service say it is best to decline gifts when offered to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

“In cases where Public Servants are pressured to receive the gift, protocol mandates that all items must be declared to the relevant Department,” the sources said. 

The issue emerged after former Transport Minister, S. Iswaran was charged with receiving items worth hundreds of thousands of Singapore dollars from billionaire hotelier, Ong Beng Seng, including more than $S347,000 ($A393,000)  worth of Singapore F1 Grand Prix tickets. 

He is also said to have corruptly obtained from Mr Ong a paid-for trip to Doha in exchange for advancing the tycoon's business interests.

*********

‘Civic Duty’ initiated as tensions mount

STOCKHOLM (January 20): A year and a half since Sweden submitted its application to join NATO, a looming sense of potential conflict has swept the country as citizens are warned to prepare themselves for the possibility of war.

Although not everybody is required to do military service — only a small proportion of the population is called up against their will — the Government is now restarting Compulsory Civic Duty, a form of national service which was dismantled after the Cold War.

The new mandatory Civic Duty will at first apply only to those who are trained in emergency services and electricity provision, but it is the first step in what is expected to be a much broader national service program.

In a speech at a National Defence Conference earlier in the month, Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson said the country was “step by step building up the new total defence”.

*********

PS recruitment centre kept busy

HONG KONG (January 15): A recruitment centre set up by Hong Kong’s Civil Service Bureau, has processed more than 16,000 job applications in its first three months.

Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan said the centre received more than 7,000 Assistant Clerical Officer applications and 5,000 for Clerical Assistant, while 4,000 sought work as Personal Secretaries.

"We have been making orderly arrangements for applicants to undergo skill tests and selection interviews at the recruitment centre, with the target of issuing the first batch of appointment letters next month," Ms Yeung said.

She said the centre would strengthen year-round recruitment publicity for jobs in the Clerical and Secretarial grades.

All applicants must first pass tests in the Basic Law and National Security Law.

            A regular update of Public Service news and events from around the world.

 

Closer to the brink of all-out war

A year ago I reported on the International Crisis Group’s (ICG) overview of the previous 12 months. It did not make happy reading.

No end in sight to the war in Ukraine as Russia’s illegal invasion continued; tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh; Iran rocked by internal protests; gang violence in Haiti, and the perennial flashpoint of Taiwan, were just some of the problems the world faced.

Sounds familiar? A year on and nothing has been solved, unless you count Azerbaijan’s military offensive clearing out ethnic Armenians from the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and the likelihood of some sort of peace agreement between the two countries in the face of this fait accompli.

Added to the misery is Israel’s war on Gaza following the terrorist attacks on its civilian population, while Yemen, which the ICG described as a forgotten conflict a year ago, has well and truly discarded that mantle as Houthi rebels threaten to bring world trade to its knees with repeated attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and its approaches.

In its latest report the ICG says peacemaking itself is in crisis, with diplomatic efforts to end fighting failing.

“More leaders are pursuing their end militarily. More believe they can get away with it,” the report says.

“More people are dying in fighting, being forced from their homes or in need of life-saving aid than in decades.”

Looming over all this is the political dysfunction in the United States as the growing assertiveness of Populist/Isolationist elements in Congress have stifled President Joe Biden’s resolve to provide Ukraine with more military support in the face of Russia’s continued aggression.

The US election in November, which could see the return of former President Donald Trump, is a further destabilising influence as Trump professes to like Russian President Vladimir Putin and is ambivalent on further weapons supplies for Ukraine.

European countries face the very real possibility they may have to take over the burden of supporting Ukraine in order to keep an ever-aggressive and confident Putin away from their borders.

In the Pacific, China’s longstanding claim to the island democracy of Taiwan has been ramped up following continued support for the nationalist Democratic Progressive Party in the recent election.

While it is unlikely that Beijing wants to risk an all-out seaborne invasion that at best would result in a messy victory, the return of the erratic policies of the Trump era might well result in a lessening of support for the island and possibly even a deal to allow China a free hand in return for significant trade concessions.

Even the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis may not be over, with the ICG quoting diplomats in the region who fear Azerbaijan may now seek to challenge Armenia’s borders in order to force concessions over a transit route through the country’s south.

Are all these scenarios (and many more) grounds for pessimism in the year ahead? Probably, but maybe, just maybe, sufficient leaders will see how perilously close they are skating to the brink of a devastating global conflict and pull back before it is too late.

It may be that good men and women with a knowledge of history, will note how the nations of Europe sleep-walked into the Great War of 1914 and then so mismanaged the peace that a second conflict became inevitable.

Here’s hoping.

Scottish crackdown on Public Service spending

EDINBURGH (January 13): The Scottish Government says it will align Civil Service bank card spending policies with the United Kingdom Government's more rigorous protocols, following a review.

The changes will see monthly spending limits for electronic purchase cards (ePCs) tightened and Civil Servants asked to pay back inappropriate spending.

First Minister, Humza Yousaf ordered a review in August after it emerged that nearly 60,000 transactions were made on Government bank cards, adding up to more than £6 million ($A11.3 million).

The internal audit of credit card spending by Civil Servants in the Scottish Government looked into 194 transactions that were questioned in the media — including yoga classes, nail varnish and Edinburgh Festival tickets — and found all but one was appropriate under the current ePC policy.

The inappropriate payment was a takeaway meal fraudulently purchased by someone who was not the card user.

However, the audit found opportunities for improving the current protocol, including reviewing what can and cannot be purchased through ePC, beefing up training and reassessing how many cardholders are needed.

*********

AI ‘will ease UK bureaucracy’s workload’

LONDON (January 13): United Kingdom Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden said the Civil Service would soon be applying artificial intelligence to all its operations and services.

“Making the best use of AI will allow officials who feel stifled by systems or bogged down by bureaucracy to get on with their work,” Mr Dowden said.

“Some Public Servants waste a whole working day each week on administration. I’ve worked in Government for many years, and I know the frustrations.”

He said applying AI technologies to routine tasks would restore productivity gains to the public sector and result in taxpayer savings estimated to be worth billions.

*********

Malaysian pay system overhaul ‘top priority’

KUALA LUMPUR (January 13): The new Director-General of Malaysia’s Public Service Department said a review of the Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA) would be his top priority.

Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz said it was shocking that the SSPA had not had a review since 2012.

In November, Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim said the Government expected to unveil a fresh set of guidelines for the SSPA by the end of 2024.

Mr Wan Ahmad Dahlan said he would also focus on the digitalisation of the Public Service “something that must be embraced by Civil Servants in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and artificial intelligence”.

*********

Deadlock in Irish pay talks

DUBLIN (January 14): Talks intended to produce a new Irish public sector pay deal have broken up without agreement after unions rejected what they described as extremely disappointing offers from the Government.

Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe described the rejection of a €2.9 billion ($A4.7 billion) public pay offer as a “real pity”. He said the offer would allow for pay increases for Public Servants of 8.5 per cent over 2½ years, with lower-paid workers benefitting to the tune of 12 per cent.

Unions sought basic increases totalling 12.5 per cent for all the workers they represented.

No date for a resumption of the talks was agreed before the parties left the Workplace Relations Commission, with officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform reported to have asked for a short break before any further meetings take place.

*********

New deal ‘will help attract workers’

WINNIPEG (January 15): Around 11,500 Civil Service workers in the Canadian Province of Manitoba could soon have a new pay and conditions deal.

The agreement, which still needs to be ratified, is for four years and would give workers a 14 per cent wage increase over that period, along with a one-time lump-sum signing bonus of $C1800 ($A2000) per full-time employee and improvements to health benefits.

President of the Manitoba Government and General Employee Union, Kyle Ross said the agreement would help fix the Civil Service staffing crisis by improving the Province’s ability to recruit and retain skilled workers.

He noted there was currently a 30 per cent vacancy rate in the Provincial bureaucracy.

*********

Body cameras to South Korean police

SEOUL (January 14): South Korea lawmakers have agreed to adopt body cameras for police officers to better manage violent crimes, at the same time stipulating measures to ensure the protection of personal information.

A partial revision to the Performance of Duties by Police Officers Act has passed the National Assembly. The changes set out the basis for the legal introduction of body cameras and specific standards for use.

Under the revision, body cameras will be classified as official police equipment and distributed through the Government Budget. Previously, police officers used body cameras at their own expense for purposes such as crime prevention and evidence collection.

However, their use is restricted to arrests, when proven necessary for an investigation, and for stopping a criminal act, likely to endanger life.

A regular update of Public Service news and events from around the world.

 

Villages answer to Italian tourist crush

Italy has always been one of my favourite travel destinations, but sad to say, the experience has been deteriorating as the years have gone by.

On my first visit to Venice half a century ago I walked up to St Mark’s Basilica on a mid-morning in July walked straight in. The only restrictions were on what you wore – no shorts for men and women had to cover their shoulders.

 

The last time I was there, just before COVID, the queue stretched around the block. By the look of those waiting the dress code has been relaxed, perhaps as a concession for the hours spent in temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius for a crowded glimpse of the interior.   

 

In Rome I managed to dodge most of the queuing at St Peter’s by arriving early, but once inside the experience was decidedly unspiritual, fighting through crowds to see the artworks and architecture only to have a selfie-stick rammed into my ear.

 

That’s why I was delighted to hear of an effort to entice tourists away from the hotspots of Rome, Florence and Venice and into the hinterlands of Italy where literally thousands of villages, many established when the Roman Empire was at its height, await to be discovered.

 

A hire car, or even use of train and bus networks, can take you off the beaten tourist track and into a different world, more relaxing, and with more time to appreciate the timeless sense of history that pervades this ancient land.

 

Small hotels and guest houses, many with their own history that goes back centuries, provide a genuine welcome to tourists, often just a few hours of easy travel from the main centres.

 

I have happy memories of Sorrento, overlooking the Bay of Naples with views of Mt Vesuvius and the Isle of Capri — of discovering limoncello, a glass or two taken in a shady courtyard under trees heavy with the fruit from which it was made, perfect with a pizza lunch.

 

On the same holiday we stopped at Taormina in Sicily, the smoking cone of Etna in the background. The pleasures of the ancient world come alive in its Greco-Roman amphitheatre where works by classical tragedians Aeschylus and Euripides were once performed.

 

Villages and small towns account for almost 70 per cent of Italian municipalities, each with their own story to tell

 

Places like Cefalu in Sicily, a UNESCO World Heritage site, Castiglione del Lago in Perugia with its medieval walls, and Liguria’s Vernazza (pictured), considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy due to the colourful façades of its houses.

 

If the choices are somewhat daunting, tourist operator True Italy Experiences

(https://trueitalianexperience.it/en) which supplied some of the information for this article, is ready and willing to help.