Govt Destroyed Civil Service: Usamate

Opposition Member of Parliament Jone Usamate launched a blistering attack against the Government during a parliamentary debate on Monday.

He accused government members of destroying the civil service through political appointments.

“You have destroyed the civil service the way you’ve just appointed people into positions left, right and center – political appointees,” Mr Usamate said.

In claiming that the Government had appointed failed political candidates to key positions he challenged Finance Minister Biman Prasad directly: “Did you appoint as permanent secretary, people who are failed candidates?”

Mr Usamate was contributing to the debate on the Review Report of the Ministry of Civil Service 2021-2022 Annual Report.

He supported recommendation one from the report, which urged that submission of annual reports be a requirement during pre-budget consultations within the Ministry of Finance.

“I agree wholeheartedly with this. When annual reports do not come, we cannot do our jobs,” he said.

Mr Usamate also addressed recommendation four, which stressed the need for the Ministry of Civil Service to provide continuous support to achieve excellence.

However, he argued that excellence was impossible under the Coalition Government leadership.

“There is a problem with a culture of excellence now because the people who are leading Government don’t demonstrate excellence themselves,” Mr Usamate said.

Government record

Mr Prasad defended the Government’s record, highlighting reforms that moved civil servants from contracts to permanent tenure as well as salary increases between seven to 20 per cent.

He accused the previous government of leaving “a civil service riddled with uncertainty, fear and insecurity”.

The Standing Committee’s report, which was tabled last month, noted several compliance issues with the Open Merit Recruitment System (OMRS) Guidelines among government ministries.

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