Establishment of civil service fund,Would it contribute to end dangerously spread corruption? [Archives:2004/745/Business & Economy]

The ministry of civil service and securities is determined to launch a group of financial reforms after the issuance of the republican decision regarding the establishment of civil service fund for tackling situation of the surplus workforce, granting employment card and the use of fingerprint. The question that is aroused is whether those measures help curb the corruption that dangerously spread inside the financial and administrative machinery or would the corrupters utilize those measures to direct them against producers?
Since 1998 there has been a non-stop talk about financial and administrative reforms and modernization of civil service. But corruption continued to grow because of the interconnection of its members, the power of their influence and weakness of the officialdom n general that does not possess required authority for disclosing practices of the corrupt in the government bodies and establishments.
The problem that emerged before modernization of the civil service is the non-implementation of laws and regulations with clear and specific mechanisms but rather mostly was implemented by persons already having relationship with hindering financial modernization and reform. The economic reforms have also increased suffering of producer forces and invigorated and broadened interests of those owning influence. The road to the financial and administrative reform has gone with calm steps and worked for rightly guiding the government machinery and building database and modernizing the employment file. Nevertheless, the program for financial reform remained facing many challenges that urged the ministry of civil service to take new measures and seek the help of international expertise in this regard. Among the more important measures now is the ministry of service orientation towards containing corruption by first granting the unified employment card along with adoption of fingerprint to end cases of double jobs and cancellation of the individual employee getting more than one salary and job.
The ministry of civil service has also worked for rationalizing the process of employment as it reduced the yearly number of jobs from 35000 employment positions to 9700 and also has referred 12 thousand surplus labours to civil service fund and also pensioned 33 thousand employees from among those meeting conditions of retirement.
Associated with these measures is the restructuring of government sectors, especially the ministries of civil service, planning and international cooperation, health and population, social affairs and the public authority for meteorology, central apparatus for auditing and both authorities of customs and taxation. It has already been contracted with foreign companies for the beginning of restructuring those sectors that receive support of donors and the World Bank.
It is to be noted that the use of the fingerprint would not end financial corruption in an over night. The question seems to be complicated where the process of employment in the state sectors must be subjected to criteria of civil service rather than legislation of institutions and ministries that are usually made tricks of and the employment of relatives and persons close to senior officials n them.
Also, the administrative shortcomings in the state departments need for application of the principle of justice in salaries and wages in order to realize stability of the employees” living conditions and then the achievement of the process of administrative production.
Nonetheless, the question remains, will the civil service be able to capture the financial corruption by using the fingerprint system? The answer will be waited for during the coming period.
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