I was recently asked by friend of mine, who had become exasperated by the bureaucratic rigmarole he had to go through to get something done in one of our ministries, whether government employees are deliberately difficult or especially obtuse.
I laughed and told him government employees never try to be difficult. They always endeavor to make life as easy as possible for themselves and to reduce their own stress levels to a minimum. What this does to your own stress levels is a matter of utter indifference to them.
They are also far from being obtuse.
A government employee is a rational creature of great cunning and with a great instinct for self-preservation honed by countless committee meetings, interdepartmental task forces and ministerial conferences.
He understands that so long as an employee has a pulse he will remain employed (there are even exceptions to that) and that his rise in grade is guaranteed so long as he keeps his seat warm.
He also knows that what he does not do will not hurt him. You see, if he takes responsibility for a task he may fail to accomplish it or he may make a mistake that may expose him to questioning and some other annoyance; if on the other hand he does nothing then he will not make a mistake and will therefore avoid any unpleasantness.
We must change the way government employees are treated if we are to improve their performance. Why is it that government employees cannot be fired if they do something that justifies that, just as in the private sector?
Why is it that government employees are guaranteed a rise in scale regardless of whether they earned it or not? Why are there no performance-related bonuses like in the private sector?
It is true that some of these suggestions will mean an increase in the cost of the public sector, but this will be more than offset by the increased productivity in this vital sector of our national economy.
Government employees are pursuing a policy that the Americans, in their pithy and witty way, call the policy of “cover your a...”
An example of this is the Kafala system followed in our beloved country. The Immigration Authority transfers via the Kafala system the responsibility for non-Saudi visitors and residents from its own shoulders neatly unto the shoulders of ordinary citizens. Thereby fulfilling the policy of covering his a... while uncovering ours.
