Ministry of Civil Service determined to end dual employment [Archives:2007/1034/Local News]

SANA'A, 18 March ) The Ministry of Civil Service has undertaken certain procedures to end dual employment in government ministries, Minister of Civil Service, Hamoud Khalid Al-Soufi said in an interview carried out by the Yemen Times.

This step is part of administrative reforms aimed to put an end to dual employment, which is rife in Yemen, especially with a number of the state's top officials who hold more than one paid position. The buying and selling of positions as part of the unofficial network of patronage also exacerbates the problem. It has become common place that applicants can buy positions at any government body. The ministry has already discovered several cases of employees holding more than one position. The process began a few years ago as the ministry warned employees holding more than one position to report their case to the ministry.

However, observers say the process will be a long and drawn out one. The Ministry of Civil Service says it faces a lot of difficulties in its attempts to curb this problem many of which are legacies of Yemen's troubled past. “The system of general administration inflated due to practices in the southern and northern parts of Yemen before unification