COVER STORY (Spotlight Weekly)

Agenda Overdue

The government re-initiates the administrative reform process by reducing the number of ministers. But there is a long way to go to transform the traditional Nepali bureaucracy into a modern one

By BHAGIRATH YOGI

Upon assuming office last month, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said that one of the top three priorities of his government was making the administration efficient. "Although there are many problems, I have selected three priorities (other two being containing Maoist rebellion and controlling corruption). I don't want to make big commitment or unrealistic promises," he said.

Within a month, the cabinet decided to reduce the number of ministries to 21 from existing 26. The government tried hard to show that it was really committed for a change. Addressing a consultation meeting with the donor community on the eve of Nepal Development Forum meeting (April 17-19) in the capital, Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya said civil service has to be made more service-oriented and competent to confront with growing challenges by means of devising its perspective vision as well as a personnel policy based on sound administrative principles. Administration needs to be strengthened for ensuring good governance and efficient development management, he said.

Nobody would disagree. After the restoration of democracy in 1990, the Nepali Congress government led by Koirala constituted an Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) with veteran civil servant Kul Shekhar Sharma as its vice chairman. In its comprehensive report, the Commission categorically said that government's wide involvement in different public sectors has resulted in an unnecessary administrative and financial burden to public enterprises thus affecting in their efficiencies. "It has now become necessary for HMG to review the need and affordability of various works in which the government does not require to get involved at all and also to identify the areas where the government needs to concentrate." The Commission also recommended a number of measures to make the civil administration efficient and effective.

Prime Minister Koirala began his job by sacking some of the top government employees. The main opposition, Unified Marxist-Leninist party, on its part, supported the nationwide civil servants' protest programs. As the reform measures landed into soup, administrative reform process could not move further. After the fall down of the Koirala government in 1994, the nine-month-old UML government could not pay due attention to the issue. Owing to the compulsions created by a hung Parliament, the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led Nepali Congress-Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal Sadbhavana Party coalition raised the number of ministries to 26 (with 48-member jumbo cabinet) as against ARC's recommendation of reducing the number of ministries to 19 and downsizing the nunmber of civil servants from 102,000 to around 77,000.

Successive governments since then have taken a leaf or two from the ARC's report but did not do anything concrete to push forward the administrative reform process. After more than five years, the government again constituted a task force in 1998 to recommend ways to implement the ARC. The task force report, which has already been submitted to the cabinet, is yet to be made public.

The present civil service in Nepal is governed by the 1993 Civil Service Act and Civil Service Rules. In May 1998, the Civil Service Act was amended by Parliament. The amendment includes (I) protection of civil servants against arbitrary transfer; (II) changes in the system of promotion and performance evaluation; (III) a provision that wage-based and contract-based staff are to be eliminated; (IV) a provision that deputation and temporary assignments are not to be more than three months; and(V) provisions regarding annual salary increment, retirement, pensions, life insurance, and training for civil servants. The amendment is intended to instill confidence among the civil service cadre and to enable them to carry out their duties with greater transparency and without political interference.

Meanwhile, the size of the bureaucracy continues to increase. The number of government offices in 1991 stood at around 9500 which increased to more than 13,000 in 1998/99. The number of central level offices went up by nearly 50 percent. The number of government employees remains more or less same, as it was a decade ago.

The bureaucracy in Nepal, however, is not that big in comparison to other countries in the region. In Nepal, there are approximately 0.57 civil servants per hundred population while the ratio is 1.0 civil servants per hundred people in India, 1.5 in Pakistan and 4.5 in Sri Lanka. Similarly, personnel expenditures in Nepal comprise approximately 20 percent of the total government budget, which is almost similar with other developing countries (20 to 25 percent).

So, what is the problem? Although Nepal's public sector is not large; its productivity is low. The 1992 ARC report noted that the decision making process is riddles with too many layers, the accountability of the civil service has not yet been determined and established and authority has not been properly delegated. The situation remains almost same till now.

"The situation must change keeping in view of worldwide change in communications, information and administration," says Goraksha Bahadur Nucche Pradhan, who headed the Civil Service Reforms Implementation Monitoring Committee in the early nineties. "We must make our civil service competent and competitive in comparison to other countries in the region."

It is easier said than done. "Any effort at increasing the productivity of Nepal's civil service will have to grapple with fundamental problems: political instability, political interference, and an inadequate remuneration and benefits package," says a report prepared by the Asian Development Bank in 1998. "Overcoming institutional weaknesses particularly in public sector management will be critical in Nepal's efforts to break out of the poverty trap."

Government employs also do agree. "There has been rampant politicization of the civil administration and corruption is rampant. Instead of formulating policies, Ministers even indulge in mundane activities like transferring low level staff," said Bhanubhakta Dhakal, former Chairman of Nepal Civil Servants' Union (NCSU). "There is an urgent need of total revamp in the present administration."

Experts, however, warn that reforming administration has to be a gradual process. "It is a planned, deliberate and induced intervention for improvement in the administration. It should be looked into totality and structural changes should be supplemented by changes in, say, education and socio-economic situation," said Gorksha B. N. Pradhan.

Due to features like technical capability, permanency and preferential access to information, civil administration plays a significant role not only in executing policies but also in formulating them. But in case of Nepal, there is lack of accountability and ownership in public policy, say analysts.

"There is crisis of confidence between the policy makers and executors," says Dr. Hiramani Ghimire, under secretary at the Ministry of Commerce, who has served as a member of the Administrative Reform Commission. "As we need a professional and competitive bureaucracy to meet new challenges, there is a need to introduce 'accountability centers' with well designated personal accountability. We should try to adopt emerging concepts like New Public Management (NPM)."

According to NPM, countries like UK and US recruit certain percentage of administrators at top echelons of civil service (called Senior Executive Service) through political appointments. Such appointees help the popularly elected political leadership to implement their manifesto and work as a bridge between the bureaucracy and ministers. "As the policy making system now is dysfunctional, we also have a need to move toward 'politicization of bureaucracy,' not making it partisan," says Dr. Ghimire. "This can be initiated by recruiting, say 10 percent of the people through political appointment, at the senior executive level, who fulfil certain criteria."

While such ideas need to be debated further, there is a need to address more fundamental problems immediately. One of them is comparatively low pay scale to the government employees. "How could you sustain a family of four at the present pay packet?" asks Biswonath Pyakurel, Chairman of Nepal Civil Servants' Association (NCSA). "There is no environment for the administration to function in an impartial and fearless way. Instead of evaluating the job done by an employee, there is a tendency of doling out reward or punishment on the basis of his/her personal faith." Adds Bhavani Thani, Chairman of NCSU, "Our administration is living in old mentality. Both the politicians and senior officials enjoy status quo due to their vested interests. So, the reform programs must begin from the political level itself."

The situation would have been different only if the existing regulations were adhered to. "It is mandatory for government offices to undergo regular auditing. But most of the government offices and state-owned enterprises don't have their up-to-date auditing reports. This gives room for corruption and misuse of resources," said Subash Nemwang, a UML lawmaker who also heads the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives. "At the same time, there is a need to timely review and amend existing laws so as to make the public servants accountable."

As there is general consensus regarding the need of reforms in civil administration, its modalities could be worked out through consultations among all the stakeholders. "Time has come to introduce strong measures to rescue the administration from present mess," said Subash Nemwang. "Such a measures should be worked out through consultation among different political parties, experts, and professional organizations and be implemented in their true spirit."

Donors, too, insist that it is the initiative must come from within. "(The civil service reforms) has to be the government's program. We are just providing technical assistance for its implementation," said Brain Fawcett, senior program officer of ADB, who was recently in the capital heading a bank mission. (See: Box) The Bank has proposed to lend US$ 20 million over the next five years if the government agrees to implement reform programs as per its commitment.

It has become urgent for Nepali civil service-that was originally established for land administration, collection of land revenue, maintenance of law and order, and dispensation of justice-to change its role with the need of the time. For this, political commitment is a must. Politicians, too, have little choice if they want to deliver the goods to the people as promised during elections. Without an efficient bureaucracy, development works as well as day to day administration of the country will remain in tatters as is the case now.

Recipe for Reforming Civil Service

— Raghav Raj Regmi

1. Decentralize the decision making power to the regional level. Dissolve the Central Departments which have regional directorates and delegate the power of the Department to them for the region.

2. Develop Functioning code of conduct for the civil service offices with specific time frame for specific services.

3. In many offices if you want to file any 'Nibedan' you have to have approval from the 'Hakim' before doing 'Darta'. This is a closed approach. Any reform should make the government and its offices open and transparent to the public. Any government office seldom gives any written reply to any application of action from the public. The civil service should serve the people proactively. Presently it acts in only physically responsive manner. One has to physically pursue the application other wise it will never move.

4. Civil service requires to be kept dynamic. Mandatory retirement (30 years time bar) and more open recruitment in higher positions (like IAS in India) are some effective tools to keep it dynamic and competitive.

5. Hospitals for the civil servants and their families, schools for their children and scholarships are to be provisioned. If it is possible for army and police why not for the civil servants? The civil servant associations should work towards this direction rather than of 'pimping' for the political parties.

6. The civil service rules should be job specific. A single framework cannot govern doctors, engineers, scientist and general administrators, emergency services all.

7. Job description and Terms of reference system should be introduced.

8. More career development opportunities (higher education and training) should be availed through open competition for the civil servants.

9. There should be positive discriminatory provisions to allow more women to come into the cadre and also in higher positions.

10. Remove all discretionary decision making provisions, explicit provisions in the rule should guide all decisions.

(A freelance consultant, Regmi is associated with SAMUHIK ABHIYAN, an NGO.)

Tracing Civil Service Reforms Initiatives In Nepal

The initiatives for the civil service reforms in the country can be broadly categorized into following six phases :

1. Interim Government of Nepal Act, 2008 BS (1951 AD)

After the Rana regime was overthrown the new Nepalese government requested the Government of India to send a team of administrative experts to study the Nepalese system of administration and recommend measures to improve them. Consequently, two Indian experts Sri Nagesh and Brijnarayan came here and submitted a report suggesting for passing an Interim Government of Nepal Act which contained the provision of establishing a Public Service Commission, creation of a Central Government Secretariat etc for trading office procedures.

2. Buch Commission Report 2009 BS (1952 AD)

The report by N.M. Buch, an Indian expert, contained a number of recommendation including the reduction of unnecessary functions and staff positions, elimination of such offices as Hajir Goswara (Attendance Collection Office), changing the designation of the Cabinet Secretary to the Chief Secretary, training of Civil Servants, reforms in prison management and revenue administration.

3. Administrative Reorganization Planning Commission 2013 BS (1956 AD)

Then Prime Minister Tanka Prasad Acharya constituted the commission under his chairmanship and recommended for the need of a Civil Service Act (which was passed later on), creation of O&M units, the execution of Government Business Act, more authorities to be given to Bada Hakims (district advisors) and three magistrates of the Kathmandu Valley to carry out their functions effectively.

4. Administrative Reforms Commission 2025 BS (1968 AD)

During the premiership of Surya Bahadur Thapa, an Administrative Reforms Commission was formed under the Chairmanship of Veda Nanda Jha. This commission gave a number of recommendations including the reduction of number of ministries from 16 to 11, introduction of position classification, introduction of program budgeting and so on.

5. Administrative Reform Commission 2032 BS (1976 AD)

Then government constituted the commission under the chairmanship of Dr. Bhekh Bahadur Thapa. It made a number of recommendations mostly on manpower development and financial administration. Its recommendations like creating a separate Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministry and national level civil servants training institute were later implemented.

6. Administrative Reform Commission 2048 BS (1992)

Then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala formed the commission under his own chairmanship and later formed an Administrative Reform Monitoring Committee in the Prime Minister's Office to help the government in monitoring the implementation of the recommendations made by the commission. The recommendations made by this commission include reducing the number of ministries from 21 to 18 (ironically over the years the number of ministries increased to 26), drafting new Civil Service Act (which happened after few years), trimming down of the civil service by twenty five percent, organizational restructuring, introducing scientific system of job appraisal system and so on.