Redundancy of Liberia government's 'non-essential staff': Reflections

Civil Service Agency’s proposed redundancy reform process: an initial reaction

Part I:

By Tom Kaydor  /  thkaydor@gmail.com

In some of my posts on the Civil Service Agency’s proposed reform to downsize non-essential staff in ministries and agencies, I did promise to do further analysis on said issue and this is the beginning of the process. It is good to have a well written policy, but it is preferable to have a policy that would be implemented and that will positively impact the governance process. Such reforms must equally tend to reduce poverty and increase equitable distribution of the nation’s resources. That said, besides the seeming lack of an implementation strategy and the proposed reform’s likely inability to affect the legislature and the Judiciary (as others have argued), the timing for such policy reform in Liberia would have disastrous consequences and might increase poverty in the already poor country (4^th poorest in the world).

First, poverty in itself reduces people’s consumer surplus and affects aggregate demand. This affects national economy and reduces the country’s international competitiveness and as well retards economic growth, thus further limiting the government’s ability to spare resources for transfers; hence fueling poverty in return. The main asset the poor have is their labor, which in Liberia cannot easily find a market. Private school teachers for example are practically out of job as most of them are not being paid at present. There is no point mentioning the already jobless thousands in the country. The responsibility of the civil servants who are receiving pay has therefore increased given our setting which makes a singular bread winner in a family the sole provider for all. So poverty arguably continues to increase in Liberia, and this will continue to reduce aggregate demand.

Second, in the ebola environment, there are several factors that project an increment in poverty. During the ebola (the greatest global health epidemic posing major national security threat to affected nations), some investments have closed down. Their return and full operation might not be fully realized under this current government. Those who had jobs at those concessions are now temporarily unemployed. Local businesses have been undermined, if some would not or have not already crumbled.  The mainstay of our country’s economy (subsistence agriculture) is grossly affected. Take Lofa for instance where farmers have lost entire season of their production. In fact all farmers in Liberia have been affected. This has far reaching social and economic consequences and might even affect the politics. As families are affected, school would be opening at the end of the virus, these poor families need social protection interventions to not only feed themselves, but to also address children’s school fees, uniforms, tuition and other relate expenditures. This simply shows how poverty would even further increase in Liberia. The Minister of Finance has affirmed the grave economic, social and political challenges that the ebola brings along. He aired this during his interview on the LBS talk show. Presently, some people are unable to pay their rent. Take the case of an ebola survival who on his return from the ETU was put out due to expiration of his rent, and his inability to pay the land lord who singularly survives on the rent friom his humble home in Banjul Community. This story was shared on the Truth FM radio. WFP is presently distributing food and relief items. This should inform that the situation in Liberia is grave and will go a long way. Indeed poverty has increased where majority of the people cannot meet the minimum nutritional suppliments needed on a daily basis. Simply put, the impact of the ebola virus on Liberia would be very significant to the point government now has to begin thinking about increasing transfers to those who are working and those who are jobless. Social protection benefits must be provided to the poor, and social safety nets must be provided to the vulnerable who might fall back into the poverty gap (this includes ‘the non-essential staff’).

Instead of concentrating on such poverty reduction moves, the policy reform to redundant non-essential staff of government aims to remove civil servants from the labor market, and according to the policy (as others have argued) they will be given capacity to lead them to other sectors of employment. Where are the other employment sectors? Where are those sectors when in 2005 campaign it was promised that we would run a small and efficient government, but have only seen the creation of commissions and new government entities with huge salaries and allowances? Where are those other job sectors when we can only witness an increment in the salaries, allowances and other benefits of elected officials and political appointees? Statistically, the salaries of the non-essential staff may not be the significant part of our expenditure. You may need to get the data and run your regressions. Our expenditure is about the huge and discretionary allowances given to some staff in agencies and ministries under the whims and caprices of ministers. Our expenditures are on the luxurious cars and sometimes needless travels of government officials. Our key expenditures are not on those filling clerks or cleaners or secretaries (now considered non-essential). The huge expenditures are paid to some of the very Liberians who are 'consultants' at various ministries and agencies. How much do the non-essential staff earn? Granted that those considered non-essential will be paid for two years and then be transitioned to separation benefits, what is the volume of the pay to non-essential staff compared to political appointees, national consultants and elected officials? Think about it.

Third, on the question of training those to be put down, could the CSA provide an analysis of prospective labor markets/job markets to which they will be shifted. Over 12 years of post-conflict governance, one needs not to lecture about our failure to link the unemployed youths and adults with jobs. We have not created the needed jobs. Is it in an immediate post-ebola environment that such jobs would be generated? Give us the prognosis. Government indicated it would have provided 20 thousand jobs, redeemed 20 million dollars from ghost names, et al. Have those jobs come and gone? Where are the ghosts when there are genuine staff members working in agencies and ministries, but not yet on pay roll for the past five to ten years and even above?

Fourth, Liberia is poised with political tension mainly due to poverty. People are advocating for a change of government amidst an ebola crisis. They argue that the government is corrupt, has failed and needs to giveway. At the same time, some members of the ruling Unity Party are demanding jobs in the very civil service. Health workers are presently agitating for strike actions in demand of their pay and employment. Several teachers are still yet to get on the official pay roll of government. Is it politically feasible to carry out such reform that will affect people who have only relied on government‘s jobs over the years? Are we not venturing with political rivalry and strong opposition from the civil servants? I think the timing for such reform is politically wrong and might lead to demonstrations, strikes, et al. For any policy reform to succeed, it must have the political will, the time must be ripe, and the policy entrepreneurs must find the appropriate venue to introduce same. Introducing such shake up in the civil service during a health epidemic might do more harm than good. This reform does not have the coupling of the problem, politics and policy.

Last, from my experience, and you may share yours, there is no effective and objective criteria and mechanism to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of staff in ministries and agencies. There has also been no objective criteria on which staff are paid. In fact there has been no set and objective criteria for staff recruitment in the civil service over the years. There are instances in which degree holders are office assistants or filing clerks when non degree holders are their supervisors. The first thing to do therefore would be to develop a mechanism through which staff would be placed in positions based on their qualifications and experience. This is called merit system. That is not the focus of this policy. The policy seeks to cleverly fire civil servants. We need to put in place measurable deliverables based on employee’s job description that must conform to contemporary realities. Have you seen the generic CSA TORs? Have you seen the evaluation forms for civil servants? I have seen them, and think better not to have those generic TORs and evaluation forms that currently exist. Is there any empirical study showing information about essential and non-essential staff in terms of the reality on the ground in ministries and agencies? What is that study indicating, if any? From my experience in the government, to the best of my knowledge, such research has not been done yet.

To conclude, as earlier stated, the policy reform looks good on the face, but the timing appears to be wrong. There must be a detailed study on the cost and benefits of this reform especially during the time of ebola crisis. Any hasty implementation of such policy reform might lead to outcomes otherwise intended thereby leading to huge negative unintended consequences. After all, this proposed restructuring of the civil service must also involve the other two branches of government: the Judiciary and the Legislature. And it is only my hope that they would endorse and comply with the terms  of such reform. Remember, poor people are hungry people. Hungry people are angry people. Angry people many times become violent. Too much poverty may therefore create instability in Liberia. 'A hint to a wise is quite sifficient'.