INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Performance contract needs to be made accessible to the public
Kathmandu, August 4
With the government making it mandatory for all the
ministries and their subordinate departments, agencies and offices to conclude yearly performance contract with employees from this fiscal
year, almost all ministries have started to conclude such pact.
The government said the rationale behind the decision taken based on rule
34b of the Civil Service Rules, was to make bureaucracy competent, service-oriented and responsible by reforming service delivery mechanisms
Success of the system lies in transparency, according to experts who demand that content of the contract and results should be made
public.
They also warn signing of the contract will just be a formality if the general public is not informed about how the contract has
been designed, who is responsible for what, and how they have performed.
Since the Civil Service Rules do not speak anything about making
public such contracts, or evaluation of results
The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers says it depends on decision of concerned ministries
Most of the ministries THT talked to, including Foreign Affairs, Federal Affairs and General Administration, Communications and Information
Technology and Finance, have yet to decide whether to make public the contracts.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, which started it with the
signing of performance contract with Chief District Officers and division heads last year, did not make public the contract for the last
fiscal year.
MoHA Spokesperson Ram Krishna Subedi said since most of the ministry work was related to security, it would be difficult for it
to make public such contracts
&Generally speaking there nothing wrong in making public such contracts, or evaluation results,& he told THT, adding, &But for MoHA, it will
be impractical given the nature of its work.&
As per the Civil Service Rules, the performance contract includes goals of the office, budget,
human and non-human resources and means and time-frame to achieve the goals, results to be achieved or expected outcomes, indicators of the
performance evaluation, conditions for the termination of the contract and power required for the implementation of the contract and its
validity.
The concerned ministry and department shall regularly monitor whether work as referred to in the performance contract has been
There will be a committee under the convenorship of the concerned ministry, comprising representatives of the MoFAGA and the National
Planning Commission for annual appraisal of the work as mentioned in the work performance agreement.
In the event of failure to perform in
accordance with the performance contract, except owing to circumstances beyond control, such an employee may be relieved of his/her special
responsibility for two years, the rules stated
The content of the contract will depend on the levels of government employees and nature of their tasks
Former Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokhrel said such contracts would definitely bring clarity in terms of reference of government
employees, and they would be clear as to what would happen if they accomplished or did not accomplish their assignments.
Pokhrel, however,
said success of such contract would lie on its content and transparency
He said the performance indicators and bases of evaluation should be specific and quantifiable.
&The contract and evaluation results should
be made public by posting them on social media so that the civil society and the press can hold government employees accountable,& he told
&Or else, it will just be limited to papers.&
Former Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi expressed a similar view
&People should know who is responsible for what, and whether government employees have performed as per their commitment,& he told THT
&Transparency is precondition for success.& Subedi also suggested that the evaluation should be done by an independent professional
mechanism.
The system of signing performance contract was first introduced in mid-2000s in public enterprises, but it failed to yield
Public Enterprises Board set up by the Baburam Bhattarai government in 2012 had also planned to implement the system, but the board itself
got scrapped last year.
The post Success lies in transparency: Experts appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
