Yet again, the civil service is back on the government’s radar screen. It has already been once or twice before but it seems that those who are pushing for greater efficiency in the service are now getting a bit impatient.
If there is a leadership crisis in the service today, part of the blame for this lies at the door of the socialist administrations of Dom Mintoff. Indeed, the wheel has turned a full circle or, to put it in another way, Labour had sown the wind in Mintoff’s time and it is now reaping the whirlwind.
It was in the 1970s that the civil service passed through what must be classified as possibly the worst time in its history. Civil servants at the time were demeaned to such an extent that, today, the mere mention of those sad times sends a shiver down the spine of those who had experienced the Malta Labour Party’s ruthlessness.
Mr Mintoff’s government excelled in intimidation, as the thousands of people who worked in the service at the time could well attest. The blow dealt to the service by this high-handed attitude was so strong that it embedded itself into the psyche of the workforce.
Placing a difficult situation in its context is important to fully understand the complexity of the problem. When Joseph Muscat was reported admitting the other day that, at times, politicians were to blame for casting a shadow over the civil service, many could not help drawing a wry smile. “At times” indeed!
Politicians, Labour and Nationalists, are the main culprits for the ills of the service. The marvel is that, despite the glaring shortcomings in some pockets, it had managed to back up the island’s development process over the years.
Before the last election, many believed Dr Muscat when he preached that a Labour government would go by merit in appointments, not by political allegiance.
Finding themselves in the saddle with one of the largest electoral majorities ever, Labour cleanly swept meritocracy out of their mind. One of the first controversial appointments was indeed that of the head of the civil service, a prominent Labour-leaning person. That had immediately sent out the wrong message and exposed the Labour Party’s frame of mind.
However, leaving the jobs-for-the-boys mentality and all the politics aside, there is indeed a case for stepping up efforts to bring about greater efficiency. Policies may change but, as they well say, old habits die hard. Despite the improvements made in some lines, the administration and the people still complain of bureaucracy.
Hiving off certain operations and turning them into companies or corporations does not always work either. Taking an example, ARMS Limited is less efficient than what the government’s water and electricity department used to be in its time. The postal service, renowned for its efficiency under the government, had greatly deteriorated when it passed into the hands of Maltapost in 1998. Admittedly, it is improving once again now.
If the reform in the civil service has been so difficult to carry out for so many years now, politicians of all shades ought to first take a long, hard look at their own policies and actions. The more they politicise the service, as they have been doing along the years, the less they are likely to get the results they expect from it.
If, as Dr Muscat says, the government wants to be a role model for employers, it would first need to depoliticise the working environment.