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Good
Governance Monitoring Report – Issue no. 1
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3.6 Human Resources Management: GPC Performance
According to Article (86) of
the Basic Law, the General Personnel Council (GPC) is responsible for
developing the PNA’s public administration and human resources procedures and
systems. Article (7) of the Civil Service Law specifically highlights eight
main responsibilities for the GPC in public administration: ·
Oversee
implementation of the provisions of the Civil Service Law and verify
government agencies' accurate implementation of civil service legislation and
regulations; ·
Participate
in preparation and implementation of personnel development programs through
coordinating local and international training; ·
Take
part in job competition test rules in coordination with government agencies
and other concerned parties; ·
Review
promotion and recruitment decisions of government agencies; ·
Prepare
a central registry of all civil servants in ·
Prepare
public servants data and any other required statistics and follow up and
update such statistics; ·
Document
civil service legislation and regulations; and, ·
Prepare
a Palestinian civil service manual to include duties and rights of public
sector employees as stipulated by the law. A review of the GPC operations
and the Cabinet decisions during the period under review reveals that the GPC
continued to be unable to carryout its mandated responsibilities due to,
inter alia, internal organizational difficulties (including weak capacities)
and conflict over mandates with the MoF. The suspension of technical
assistance to GPC has left the GPC unable to move forward on implementing
many of its plans for reform which it had formulated as through these
assistance programs. Among the problems faced by
the GPC – which have never been adequately addressed by successive
governments - is the lack of the necessary skilled human resources to execute
its responsibilities. Many key senior posts in the GPC remain vacant
(e.g., the Director General for Policy and Training) due to the GPC’s
inability to attract qualified candidates. Due largely to its weak capacity,
the GPC has never been able to complete the registry of civil servants or
resolve discrepancies between its records and payroll records maintained by
the MoF. In addition, the GPC has not been able to control and regulate
public sector recruitment process in accordance with the Civil Service law
and the related Executive Regulations.
The GPC’s role in this process has been largely limited to
“rubber-stamping” appointment decisions made elsewhere, occasional
participation in interview processes and correspondence with the MoF
regarding budgetary approval for new posts or promotions. To
date, the GPC has not designed a standardized process for staff evaluations. While the head of the GPC was a member in the Cabinet’s
Administrative Affairs Committee dealing with appointments and recruitment
issues among other things, anecdotal evidence suggests the GPC was not
actively involved this committee until late July 2006. Reviewing
Cabinet decisions related to new appointments indicates that the GPC’s role
in practice remains limited and subservient to that of the MoF. Published by Good
Governance Initiative - 2006 |