Unkind cut
for trainee doctor
PARIS (January 5): A French public hospital’s decision to reject an
Egyptian trainee doctor because of his beard has been upheld in court.
The court ruled that the hospital, like other State institutions, must
remain secular under France law, and the beard could be seen as indicating a
specific religious practice.
The doctor, known only as Mohamed A, was sent from Menoufia University
in northern Egypt for a one-year training course at Saint-Denis Hospital in
September 2013.
In October, hospital managers told him to trim his beard “so that it
could not be seen by staff and users of the public service as an obvious sign
of a religious affiliation”. After he failed to comply, his training course was
terminated in February 2014.
*********
Audit
spotlight on PS corruption
NICOSIA (January 9): Cyprus’ Auditor General says
the impunity once enjoyed by the country’s Public Servants was on the wane due
to the work of prosecution authorities and changes in the mindset of the public.
Odysseas Michaelides said that Public Service corruption
and mismanagement was no longer tolerated.
Congratulating Mr Michaelides, President Nicos
Anastasiades said it was necessary to severely crack down on misconduct.
Citing data from European surveys on the cost of
corruption to the taxpayer, Mr Michaelides said that audits and controls in
general could only benefit the economy.
*********
Chad rethink on PS pay cut
N'DJAMENA (January 9): The Government of Chad has
suspended a plan to reduce the salaries of its Public Servants.
Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke said the plan,
which had aimed to ease the strains on a Budget badly hit by a nearly four-year
slump in oil revenues and a rise in borrowing, had been opposed by trade unions.
Public Service salaries in 2017 totalled $US720 million
($A903.6 million), roughly the equivalent of the combined revenue from income
tax and customs duties, according to official figures.
Chad is under pressure to cut costs to meet
performance targets under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid program. The
country is one of the poorest in the world.
*********
Pakistan changes promotion rules
ISLAMABAD (December 2): The Pakistan Government has directed that the
criteria for promotion in the Public Service be changed, giving more weight to
the completion of training courses and less to the recommendations of
superiors.
The Establishment Division within the Ministry for Public Service said
the changes were necessary because of inflated performance evaluation reports
that the bureaucrats were getting from their superiors despite poor performances.
However, critics said the increased weight on training came while there
was still no standardisation of training courses in Pakistan.
They pointed out that the civilian-run National School of Public Policy
and the military-run National Defence University (NDU) had different training modules
and evaluation criteria, with the NDU criteria regarded as more stringent and
robust.
*********
Concern over
Brexit inexperience
LONDON (January 4): Only one in five Public Servants working on the
United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) can remember a time when
the UK was not in the bloc.
An analysis of Government personnel data reveals that the average age of
staff at the Department for Exiting the European Union is 31, with 83 per cent
of officials under 40.
The figures from the Institute for Government show that the Department, which
was set up after the EU referendum and now employs nearly 600 Public Servants,
has relied heavily on young graduates to fill its posts.
Insiders say that the dependence on younger employees has worsened the
Department’s high staff turnover, creating internal confusion.
*********
Another PS death in Nigerian State
LOKOJA (January 5): A
senior Public Servant in the Nigerian State of Kogi has died of a heart attack
just three days after being told he was sacked.
Alphonsus Ameh had
been Director Administration and Finance at the Kogi State Pension Board.
A niece of the
deceased said Mr Ameh (61) was among a group of Directors and Permanent
Secretaries who were suspended in February 2016. He had not received any salary
since then.
Last year two Kogi
Public Servants committed suicide after not receiving their salaries for
extended periods.
*********
Police
protest over officer’s jailing
HONG KONG (January 7): The
union representing junior officers in the Hong Kong Police has warned of a
“morale crisis” in its ranks following the recent jailing of now retired
Superintendent Frankly Chu for hitting a bystander with a baton during a
protest.
Chair of the 20,000-strong
Junior Police Offers Association, Joe Chan Cho-kwong, said the incident “lays
bare the huge changes that have been imparted on Hong Kong society amid the
political disputes of recent years”.
“It highlights the inadequate
protection of police officers on duty and how certain requirements of police
officers on use of force have become outdated,” Mr Chan said.
Hundreds of police
sympathisers took to the streets to show “support for police enforcement”. They
demanded an independent commission be set up to monitor how judges handed out
jail sentences.
*********
No money for Uganda PS pay rise
KAMPALA (January 2): Uganda’s Public Servants have
been told there will be no pay rise for them this year and that they will have
to tighten their belts further.
The Treasury has rejected a proposal from the
Ministry of Public Service for phased pay increases over four years, saying
there was no money available for the measure.
Instead it recommended a freeze on all new
recruitment except when replacements were absolutely necessary and an
indefinite halt to a plan for 13 new Districts and 200 Town Councils — measures
already approved by Parliament.
"Relatedly, the policy of one secondary school
per sub-County and a technical school per constituency will be reconsidered. In
addition, Government should stop grant aiding of private schools and hospitals,”
the Treasury said.
*********
Recruitment
drive comes up short
LUXEMBOURG CITY (January 6): Of the 2,459 vacancies in the Luxembourg
Public Service over the past four years, only 1,989 have been able to be
filled, Minister for the Public Service, Dan Kersch has announced.
Most vacancies occurred in the areas of education, tax administration
and police, despite an intensive recruiting drive, the Minister said.
“One of the criteria for entering the Civil Service is good knowledge of
the three working languages, French German and Luxembourgish, which has been a
problem,” Mr Kersch said.
He again floated the idea of allowing more foreign residents to enter
the Public Service, something which has been a sensitive issue in the past.
*********
Phone jammers to counter exam cheats
MUMBAI
(January 5): Mobile phone jammers are to be used in centres where candidates
are taking the examination for the Indian State of Maharashtra’s Public
Service.
The State’s
Public Service Commission said the move was necessary to prevent cheating.
Deputy Secretary of the Commission, Sunil Awatade
said the jammers would prevent the use of cell-phones and related electronic
devices.
Public Service candidate and a member of the group
demanding reforms in the examination system, Mahesh Bade said jammers should be
used in all Government recruitment exams in order to make sure that genuine
candidates did not suffer.
*********
Crackdown on PS extravagance
HARARE (January 3): Zimbabwean President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s promised crackdown on the Public Service extravagances of his
predecessor has begun with the dismissal of more than 3,000 youth officers and
500 unqualified officials.
The Treasury has also begun turning down vehicle
purchase requests from senior officials and trimming their fuel and mobile
phone airtime allocations.
Landline telephone use is being closely monitored
across all Government Departments while fiscally-supported foreign travel has
been curtailed, with recruitment for non-critical posts frozen.
The Civil Service Commission is also calculating
packages for all its 65-year-old and older employees and will retire them by
the end of the month.
*********
PS
development model adopted
ASTANA (January 5): The Kazakhstan’s Agency for Civil Service Affairs
and Anti-Corruption has announced that neighbouring Uzbekistan will adopt the
Kazakh model for developing its Public Service.
The decision follows a meeting between high-level officials of both
countries during which methods for promoting efficiencies, including one-stop-shop
service centres and e-government systems, were discussed.
Director of Kazakhstan’s State Services Department, Adilbek Mukashev
said his country’s achievements in this sphere were presented to the Uzbek
side.
Kazakh representatives briefed their counterparts on the Digital
Kazakhstan State Program that was designed to reduce corruption and inefficiencies,
ensure transparency in Governmental bodies and better protect the rights and
freedoms of citizens.
*********
Up your commitment, officers told
ABUJA (January 5): Nigeria’s Federal Public
Servants have been urged to show more commitment and dedication towards
performing their duties in 2018.
Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred
Oyo-Ita made the call in Abuja while addressing Public Servants in her office
after the return from the New Year holiday.
“However, I must also congratulate you Civil Servants
that stood with this administration through thick and thin even in the face of
the fuel crisis that ended before the New Year,” Mrs Oyo-Ita said.
She commended President Muhammadu Buhari for
keeping his promise of paying salaries and promotion arrears despite the
challenges faced by the country in the previous year.
*********
State’s
public education ‘in crisis’
KARACHI (January 8): The Chief Minister of the Pakistani Province of
Sindh has declared a “public education emergency” in the face of falling
standards.
Murad Ali Shah said the problems in the Department of Education were
serious and complicated.
He announced a 10-year education reform program “to overhaul the entire
system”.
Proposed reforms would include improvement of textbooks, proper and
professional training of teachers, more efficient and transparent mechanism of
teachers’ recruitment, performance-based promotions, increments and incentives
for the best teachers, and improvements to the classroom environment.
*********
‘No confidence’ in Department head
EDINBURGH (January 8): A Scottish
Government Department is reported to be suffering a crisis in morale that is
undermining the ability of solicitors to challenge Ministers over their policies.
An internal Public Service survey
covering lawyers in the Directorate for Legal Services found only 47 per cent
of staff had confidence in the long-serving Director, Murray Sinclair.
This was significantly lower than the
average confidence rating (57 per cent) for Directors in the Civil Service
People Survey, which was carried out last October.
The survey’s findings were
catastrophic among staff covering children, education, health and social care.
Of the 17 solicitors in this area, only one said they had confidence in the
decisions made by Mr Sinclair, who has been at the helm for 11 years.
The full Public Service News international news
service resumes on January 23 at psnews.com.au/aps/world
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