Help, not hinder

Published On: February 19, 2018 02:00 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


Bureaucrats in provinces 

As the country is working to make provincial governments smooth and fully functioning, one of the challenges facing us is coming from bureaucrats themselves, who are supposed to help the process. As we find out, they are hindering it instead. Only 40 of the 215 staff deployed to Province 6 have gone to take up their official duties. This is not only the case in Province 6 but across the country. The new government has to send a clear message to those defying the government’s order to take up the jobs in provinces: either take it or leave. Due to frequent change of guard in Singha Durbar, bureaucrats often ignored their stated responsibilities in the past. This has to end now for good. The Ministry of General Administration (MGA) deploys staff to government offices across the country. The newly elected local governments have not been able to effectively carry out their works in the absence of bureaucrats deputed from Kathmandu. Some have refused to take up the assigned role and others are simply delaying their date of attendance. Many offices at ward level do not have secretaries and so people have to wait for weeks and even months to even get a letter. This is unacceptable. The government must not tolerate those bureaucrats and have them fired if they refuse the government order. 

The newly created provinces have new ministries but no staff to support their day-to-day works. Some provinces are waiting for the staff to even form their ministries. This means the provincial governments won’t be able to jump into action without the much-needed support staff and those bureaucrats are sent from MGA. From managing residence and offices of chief ministries to finding space for ministries, the provinces have a lot of pending work and that is where staff deployed from MGA is going to be important. Prime Minister Oli has to make sure that the bureaucrats are supportive of the government’s agenda and that they do everything to help. MGA must be vigilant and constantly monitor the activities of the staff across the country. Under the federal set up, a certain number of staff will be recruited by the respective provinces. The provinces will need a proper bureaucratic set up for this purpose as well. 

While managing the federal structure is already complicated for the central government in Kathmandu, the staff has to cooperate fully to make this model a success. They should not be a nuisance in the grand process of remaking our country. We can only hope that the new government in Kathmandu will do the right thing when it comes to managing the staff under its jurisdiction. Managing three tiers of governments is a challenging task in itself, more so when the government bureaucrats do not cooperate. Every measure, even punitive if required, should be taken to end this state of non-cooperation. 

 


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