With the approach of the regular Cabinet reshuffle that occurs every four years, various people are preparing themselves, hoping to be among the chosen few.
Now that the country has opted for change and the need for injecting new blood into the administrative body — this is now official government policy — the choices should be based on the qualities and experience of individuals and not on any other considerations.
In other words, priority should be given to the qualified and not merely the known and trusted. The criteria used so far are the reason that so many public departments have become little more than households sheltering proteges and cronies. These individuals have been given their positions either because the people who appointed them like them or because special interests lie behind the appointments.
This definitely comes at the expense of performance. Because the appointee is picked from among the known and trusted, the possibility of subjecting him to questioning, as well as the idea of transparency, becomes very small. It would be almost impossible to subject such a person to punishment if he is found of having abused his authority.
In any case, when choosing a qualified candidate for a post, regardless of the nature of the post, the selection requires a different approach. If the position has to do with serving the public, the responsibilities and the burdens become much greater.
Here lies the danger in selecting people to do public jobs: the benefit as well as the damage that can result is literally unlimited. In the Holy Qur’an is written, “Allah doth command you to render back your trusts to those to whom they are due, and when you judge between people that ye judge with justice. Verily, how excellent is the teaching that He giveth you for Allah is He who heareth and seeth all things.”
Arab News From the Local Press 17 November 2002
