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All pay but no work for five secretaries
KATHMANDU, APR 08 -
Even as people from several quarters point out the need for making the bureaucracy effective and result-oriented, ineffective government policies and politicisation of public institutions, among others, have thwarted this aspiration.
This is also evident in government’s failure to assign duties to five top bureaucrats who are virtually jobless for the last two months.
The government is yet to depute five secretaries--- Shitalbabu Regmi, Bimal Wagle, Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, Madhav Ghimire and Ananda Pokharel-- who were promoted two months ago. They regularly go to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, make their attendance and return home.
Five secretaries are without office and work, although half a dozen ministries and departments are without top bureaucrats. Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Information Commission, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Central Direction and Coordination Committee on Cantonment Management, Ministry of Education are without secretaries.
Nagendra Ghimire and Babu Ram Acharya, secretaries at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation and Ministry of Labour and Transport Management respectively, are retiring soon. The post of secretary has remained vacant at the National Information Commission for a year.
Moreover, four out of five Regional Administrative Offices do not have secretaries. As per the law, the government can assign secretaries the job of regional administrators. However, they refuse to take the helm of regional administration due to hierarchical mismatch.
Former Chief Secretary Bimal Koirala said, “Secretaries are reluctant to take the job of regional administrator as they have to work under home secretary, who has the same status as theirs.”This shows that the government should revise provisions which create such complications.
As acting secretaries are mandated to carry out daily administrative works, absence of secretaries has affected the functioning of regional administrative offices. A high-level government official attributes the deteriorating security situation across the country to lack of top bureaucrats in these offices.
Acting secretary cannot effectively coordinate with chiefs of the security agencies to maintain security, the official added.
Prime Minister’s Press Advisor Bishnu Rijal said the government would soon depute the newly promoted secretaries. Former Secretary Koirala said that it was unfortunate that the government failed to send secretaries to vacant posts.
All the secretaries eye ministries where they can exercise more power and get monetary benefits. Corruption and massive politicisation have also taken their toll on the bureaucracy.
“Public institutions are politicised and senior bureaucrats have good rapport with political parties, so they themselves select the ministries and departments of their choice,” says Koirala.
Posted on: 2010-04-09 07:50
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