No civil unrest unless...

Having worked in PPD and then now AVA for the better part of 5 years I can safely say that I hvae seen first hand the inner workings of the Civil Service. Over the years there have been various initiatives to encourage out-of-the-box thinking among civil servants and to allow more dynamism and a can do attitude. The main initiative launched was PS21 with the aim of streamlining functions and roles and to allow more flexibility in dealing with situations to the mutual benefit of all.

One of the chief grouses of members of public and the private sector is that we (the civil service) are too bound to rules and legislation. As a result queries and problems get passed around like a hot potato from staff to staff,section to section,department to department, agency to agency, ministry to ministry and maybe gets resolved at the end of the merry-go-round.

It is officially encouraged to live up to the ideals of PS21. But the reality is that little has changed since the implementation. Queries from the public still get passed around. Rules are hardly ever bent, let alone broken to promote efficiency. 'No' is an acceptable answer to most request.

Officers that state views or opinions other than the official line find themselves more often than not put in their place. All duties have to be performed according to the hallowed Instruction Manual (IM).

In an ideal Civil Service there would be room for all of us to maneuver and make independent decisions when it comes to problems. All enquiries would be answered to the satisfaction of our public, who incidentally pay us our salaries if we think about it. There would be no need to 'check with my superior' or call a customer back later with the final answer after a thorough reading of all rules concerning the matter and refering the matter to all the senior officers in the hierachy.

to be continued...