Israeli Government ‘stridently anti-women’

JERUSALEM (February 7); A critic of the decision by Israeli Economy Minister, Nir Barkat to dismiss the Director of the Competition Authority, Michal Cohen, says this is just another example of a Government that is stridently anti-women.

Mr Barkat said Ms Cohen (pictured) was not up to the job, taking a “passive, compromising line, clearly unprofessional and disconnected from reality”.

However, this comes after threats by other Ministers to fire Chair of the Postal Authority, Mishael Vaknin despite a consensus in the Public Service that she is capably fulfilling her legal duties.

In a scathing critique of the moves, Director of the Centre for Democratic Values and Institutions at the Israel Democracy Institute, Anat Thon-Ashkenazy said the Competition Authority, like the Postal Authority, was a Government authority.

“It is charged with maintaining the principles of competitiveness in the Israeli economy and is given the independence to act by professional standards,” Ms Thon-Ashkenazy said.

“Dismissal is an extreme measure reserved for the most exceptional cases — no such evidence to make an exceptional case exists.”

She said along with the potential damage to the bureaucracy in general and the Competition Authority in particular, it could not be ignored that this was an attempt to dismiss yet another female director, one of the few women who remained among the senior ranks of the Public Service. 

“Ms Cohen thus joins Michal Rosenbaum, who resigned as Director of the Government Companies Authority, and the sacked Director of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women, Ayelet Razin Beit-Or,” Ms Thon-Ashkenazy said.

“This trend of removing the few women in the senior Public Service is compounded by the fact that the Government, at the beginning of its term, removed all 10 female Directors-General of Government Ministries from their positions without appointing a single woman in their place.

"This is stridently anti-women.

“Although two female Directors were appointed during the past year, the two Ministries they headed have since been closed.”

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Ukraine aid package ‘not for weapons’

KYIV (February 5): The European Union’s €50 billion ($A83 billion) aid package for Ukraine is aimed at shoring up that country’s war-ravaged economy. It is not intended to fund arms and ammunition, which falls under a separate EU plan, officials said. 

Much of the sum will be spent on compensation for teachers, doctors, nurses, Public Servants, and other public-sector employees who keep power and water supplies running.

Ukrainian lawmaker and former diplomat, Bohdan Yeremenko said there was also a need to use some of the funds to support the local currency, the hryvnia, saying it was important for macro-economic stability.

Another lawmaker, Yevheniia Kravchuk told German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle that Kyiv would use some of the aid to provide insurance and stable financing for foreign investments, including plants that produced arms and ammunition.

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Minister makes case for office working

LONDON (February 6): United Kingdom Cabinet Office Minister, Lucy Neville-Rolfe says Civil Service leaders should make a stronger case for office-based working, because younger officials were in need of mentoring.

Speaking in a House of Lords debate on the impact on public services of Civil Servants working from home, Baroness Neville-Rolfe said there were clear benefits from face-to-face, workplace-based collaborative working.

“That is why Departments have issued new guidance that most Civil Servants should spend at least 60 per cent of their working time in the office and our senior Civil Servants have been told they need to set an example as leaders,” Baroness Neville-Rolfe said.

Admitting in answer to a question that some Civil Service offices were already full to overflowing, she said it was “important that we use our property properly in the interests of value for money, while modernising it so that it is a good workplace”.

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Another PS pay rise as inflation soars

DAMASCUS (February 6): Syrian Public Servants and public sector pensioners are to receive a 50 per cent pay rise in an effort to combat rampant inflation after nearly 13 years of civil war.

President Bashar al-Assad announced a similar decision last year, doubling salaries and pension payments, while also lifting fuel subsidies.

The Syrian economy has been battered by the conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions since it began in 2011. More than 90 per cent of Syrians have been pushed into poverty and the value of the Syrian pound has been slashed.

A separate presidential decree set the minimum monthly wage in the private sector at SYP278,190 ($A169).

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At least a handshake please Mr President

ABUJA (February 5): The head of an organisation representing senior Federal Public Servants in Nigeria has called for more recognition and appreciation from the Government for services rendered.

In what is seen as a rebuke to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chair of the Directors Forum of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Bala Mohammed said at least retiring senior officers should expect a presidential handshake.

Speaking at a Forum ceremony farewelling three retiring Department Heads, Mr Mohammed said it was crucial for the Government to look after the welfare of senior officers, especially those that had reached the peak of their careers.

“Civil Servants are at the pleasure of the President, so when they are leaving without disappointing him and contributing to his success, they deserve at least his handshake,” Mr Mohammed said.

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Pigeon cleared of spying, flies the coop

NEW DELHI (February 3): Police in the Indian city of Mumbai have cleared a pigeon of spying for the Chinese eight months after taking it into custody.

The bird was captured in the port area of Mumbai with two rings tied to its legs that were engraved with Chinese characters. Police suspected it was involved in espionage and ordered its detention at the Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals.

However, it eventually turned out that the pigeon was a racing bird from Taiwan that had escaped and made its way to India. Police transferred it to the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, whose doctors set it free.

Mumbai Police could not be reached for comment.

 

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