Kewal Prasad Bhandari
Former Secretary
Government of Nepal
The incumbent government has the last opportunity to reform: Former Secretary Bhandari
The government has not been able to look at the civil servants with human sensitivity: Former Secretary Bhandari
Kathmandu. Former Secretary of the Government of Nepal, Kewal Prasad Bhandari, has said that the bureaucracy is plunged into confusion, discouragement and career development crisis as the Federal Civil Service Act has not been passed even after almost a decade of the implementation of federalism.
Talking to Nepal News Bank, he said that the federal governance system would not be able to provide the expected services without legal uncertainty, effective training and social security. According to Bhandari, the morale of the employees has been weakened as the work of restructuring the bureaucracy as per the federal structure has been stalled.
He said that according to the new structure to work in the three tiers of government, the career development, promotion and working system of the employees have not been made timely. He said that the employees need clarity about their service life. “Employees need certainty about how long they will work where, when they will be promoted, what kind of benefits they will get and what the future holds,” he said.
He said that the contradictory debate on retirement age, service period and transfer has created an atmosphere of insecurity and fear among the employees. Bhandari said that while the draft of the Federal Civil Service Act has proposed 60 years of retirement age, on the other hand, there is talk of retiring at 55 years, which has created more confusion among the employees. This may be the reason why some employees may have left the service voluntarily, he said.
He said although it was expected that there would be extensive improvement in the bureaucracy after the formation of a majority government, that expectation could not be fulfilled.
“We believed that service delivery would be effective after the formation of the government with around two-thirds majority and a new path would open in the bureaucratic administration, but it was not seen,” he said.
Former Secretary Bhandari said that the tendency to see the bureaucracy as less important than politics has also reduced the morale of the employees. According to him, the role of both is equally important in the public service as the government formulates the policy and the employees implement it.
He said that although the government’s decision to limit the number of ministries from 21 to 18 is a matter of the government’s authority, it will affect the top level hierarchy. He said that the reduction in the number of ministries will limit the opportunities for the posts of secretary, joint secretary and under-secretary, which will affect the career development. However, he clarified that due to the reduction of ministries, there will be no big problem in day-to-day work. Bhandari said that the failure to form a high-level administrative restructuring commission to prepare the bureaucracy according to the new system of governance after the implementation of federalism was a big weakness. According to him, even though the senior officials of Singha Durbar understand the federal system, adequate training has not been provided to the employees serving in the remote areas.
He said that some positive reforms have been incorporated in the Federal Civil Service Bill, which is being tabled in the parliament. He said that the bill has new provisions such as clarifying the objectives of the civil service, clustering in the reservation system, provision for leadership evaluation, formation of civil service board and monthly performance evaluation of employees above the officer.
However, he believes that this alone will not make the federal bureaucracy efficient. He suggested that the age of entry should be reconsidered, systematic training should be provided by recruiting staff at an early age, and compulsory training should be resumed for the assistant level employees. He also said that the new law alone cannot transform the bureaucracy unless health, social security, child care and economic and non-economic benefits are improved. Bhandari said that there is still an important opportunity for the incumbent government to make citizen-centric, modern and accountable bureaucracy by further amending the Federal Civil Service Act. Bhandari said although the proposed Federal Civil Service Act incorporates the issues of promotion, career development and social security, more reforms are needed to increase the real motivation of the civil servants.
He said that the state cannot achieve the expected service delivery by limiting the employees only to salary and allowances. Talking about the provisions of the Federal Civil Service Act, Bhandari said that the promotion system seems to be moving forward without scientific analysis based on statistics.
Stating that there is a provision of seven years to move from one level to another level, it takes up to 14 years to reach the next level, he said that the promotion system should be reconsidered by analyzing the available human resources, age and service period.
“Promotion is a matter related to the motivation of the employees,” he said, “But as the structure of the ministries and departments is shrinking, the posts will decrease and retirement, so its impact may not be seen as expected.” Bhandari accused the government of failing to look at the bureaucracy with human sensitivity. According to him, the idea is that the employees will work after being paid, while the state should give priority to the career development of the employees, social security, education and health of the family and life after retirement.
He said that there is a need to make the life of the employees who retire after serving for more than 30 years and retiring at the age of 60 years to secure their lives. “It is not easy to start a new job after retirement. Therefore, the state should ensure the basis of livelihood,” he said.
Former Secretary Bhandari stressed on the need to make the employee transfer system more scientific.
He said that if the disparity of opportunity among the employees working in the mountain, Tarai and the capital is not removed, it will affect the efficiency.
He also pointed out the need to provide regular training, study and fellowship opportunities to the employees. “One cannot work only after completing university studies and joining the service,” he said, adding that the government should provide opportunities to study in the country and abroad for the necessary skills, but now such programs are on the decline. Bhandari said that the huge savings in the Employees Provident Fund and Citizen Investment Fund can be effectively used for the social security of the employees.
He said that although these organizations could have played a greater role in the education, health and housing of the families of the employees, army and police, it has not been done accordingly.
He said that the state should bring a special program in this regard as the provision of one’s own accommodation is an important issue for the citizens in the socio-cultural context of Nepal.
Demand for equal opportunities for employees working in remote areas
Bhandari said that discrimination on the basis of access to promotion and opportunity distribution should be ended. He said that the administration of the employees will not be effective if there is a situation where the employees working in remote areas are promoted quickly because they are close to the leadership and the employees working in the remote areas are left behind.
According to him, although the Federal Civil Service Act incorporates the provisions of health insurance, social security and facilities, the morale and service delivery of the civil service will be improved only if they are implemented in an impartial and equal manner in practice.
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