The positions of 5400 civil servants could be cut in the new year after parliament’s budget review committee revealed that Rf119 million has been earmarked for redundancy packages.
Furthermore, a letter from the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to the speaker of parliament tabled on 7 Dec disclosed that 228 staff have already been dismissed while 387 have been served notice, according to independent MP Mohamed Nasheed.
Abdul Muhsin, vice president of the CSC, said the government had yet to consult with the commission regarding the redundancies for which it had apparently budgeted.
“The moment we heard of this from the parliamentary committee we wrote to the Finance Ministry for more details,” he said. “If the government are making redundancies, they have to work with the independent commission.”
The government is legally obliged to dismiss civil servants through the commission, explained Nasheed, a safeguard to ensure an independent bureaucracy by reducing the government’s control over civil service employment by offering tenure and certainty of employment.
“Under the Civil Servant Act section 47(c) there are seven specific guidelines under which a civil service employee may be dismissed, and none of these grounds have anything to do with redundancy,” he said. “The government currently isn’t empowered to dismiss so many people in the name of downsizing. The concept of redundancy is new to the Maldives – it has never been envisioned in our country.
This meant, he said, that if the government was planning to restructure and streamline the civil service, “then it must be done through legislation, and not administration.”
“Maybe there are reasons to restructure,” he said. “But if I’m a civil servant and I’m to be dismissed, I want to at least have the basic certainty that it is because of the new rules and not because of my political beliefs or which party I’m in.”
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This is a very one-sided article. I am surprised that the government view is not represented here. A comment from the finance ministry would have been appropriate.
one little boy to another
'my daddy is a doctor'
the other boy replies
'o thats nothing! my dad is a CIVIL SERPENT'
Keeping the legislation updated is a must, and i think the amendment should be brought about with guidelines as to who and how a employ or a post will be considered redundant, stringent enough to protect the general employs as well.
I think we all agree, Civil service has excess staff. We all agree, we have over 100,000 foreign staff working in the country.
The only issue with Civil service redundancy I see is fear. This is been abused and exacabated by the opposition parties and opposition MPs.
Why can't the opposition agree on anything that the ruling party does. Why is everybody disregarding the status quo of the economy of this country and that of the world.
There should be some compromise from every angle. Civil Servants needs to learn to adapt. They should not be expecting, a guaranteed income, from the government despite not contributing any work or if their work is no longer needed. As a country we will never progress if this is the kind of thinking we have.
What I see through these redundancies are progress, if the government does what it say will do. If redundant employees are given financial support adequate enough, be it for training, higher education or entrepreneurship will all help the country. If redundant civil servants gets training and replaces a foreign staff in the private sector is a plus for the economy. If the redundant employee, uses the government financial loan supports starts a business and employees another five Maldivians is a plus for the country and economy.
This as I see is a win-win situation. Government wins by having a more productive civil service. Redundant staff wins by having better employement in the private sector. People win better service from the government and money available for other pressing issues. Economy will only expand. SO WHAT IS THE ISSUE?