The National Administrative Reform Conference: Successful Rallying Effort [Archives:1998/35/Front Page]

Since 1974, the former Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) was thinking about reforming its public administration in general, and the civil service in particular. Many workshops were held and different governmental programs tackled this question. However, little progress was made.
Those efforts climaxed last week. The National Conference on Administrative and Financial Reform and Development was held in Sanaa during 25-29 August, in cooperation with the World Bank. The event was concluded with several recommendations. To what extent the recommendations will be realized in practice, however, is a different matter.
But at the very least, the conference was instrumental in two ways:
a) In crystallyzing the issues and clearly diagnozing the problems; and
b) In rallying a wide range of the community around the reforms, and mobilizing support for it.
But there are some necessary steps which should be taken in order to achieve a real administrative reform in Yemen. Let me list a few:
1- Full and complete implementation of the civil service regulations. This implementation should treat all public servants equally and without any distinction or discrimination.
2- Decentralizing the process of decision making in all ministries, public establishments and reducing central decisions taken usually by ministers or heads of public establishments.
3- The criteria of appointment of officials should be according to their qualification and experience only.
4- The legal age of retirement should be set at 55 years for both male and female employees, without discrimination.
5- Reducing the duration of effective service to 25 years, instead of 35.
6- Encouraging and giving incentives for early retirement to public servants who have already finished 15 years of service.
7- Giving the individual public civil servant a reasonable salary which covers the real cost of living for one man, his wife and 2 children. This salary should not be less than YR 13,000, (US $100) a month.
8- Simplification of administrative procedures in each ministry or government establishment. This can be done by giving public employees instructions according to which any paperwork should be completed within a maximum of two weeks. Any civil servant who is responsible for delays must be punished according to the Civil Service Law. This measure will be a kind of control against corruption and bribery.
9- Taking legal measures against all civil servants who are registered as employees in two or more government bodies. This stops public servants from receiving two salaries or more from the state budget.
10- Expanding the administrative presence of the public service all over the country (district / town, etc.) At the same time, public employees should be given them real authority to take decisions regarding the questions raised at their level.
11- Giving the criteria of actual performance of each public servant the priority in his annual evaluation and promotion, not to his presence or absence during working hours. This performance evaluation should be done on weekly, monthly, seasonally and annually.
12- Attracting highly qualified people who hold a Ph.D. or Masters degrees to work in the public service, by giving them the same allowances as those given to university academic staff, instead of treating them differently. This fact pushes these groups to look for a job out of the civil service which affect it negatively.
13- Giving each and every public servant his financial rights automatically without the need for him to follow up his rights here and there.
14- Attracting new civil servants, especially those in the fields of education and health.
15- Recognizing the principal of financial indemnisation for each civil servant for any damages caused by the public administration
16- Considering the disputes arising between a civil servant and the public administration as an urgent case, which must be solved in an urgent case court.
The conference was an important milestone. Moreover, it played the role of catalyst in pushing forward the need for administrative reforms, which is increasingly becoming a pre-requisite for the success of the whole reform program.
Dr. Salah Haddash,
Managing Editor, Yemen Times.
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