Chamber of Industry approved experts' findings, proofs and advices about Public Administration Reform

Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry found the project findings, proofs and advices very realistic and valid which was prepared by an expert committee.

Salih Tunar, President of Chamber of Industry organized a press conference on 23rd September 2005 at the Chamber and said the following findings are as same as what has been said by the Chamber for ages.

In North Cyprus there are nearly 14,500 public workers and this is nearly 17% of the whole working society. ( South Cyprus 12.37%, Malta 12%, Bulgaria 6.8%, Holland 7.53%)

Salih Tunar said ‘Public Administration Reform should be a major subject in order to change out of date, coarse and unfruitful Public Administration to contemporary, functioning, profitable with high performance criteria and of course administrated as citizen oriented.' He also marked that in order to have a successful Reform two other Reforms, Social Security and Municipalities, should be dated same and they should be put into practice.

Findings of the Chamber

The followings are the opinions and suggestions of Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry:

“Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry examined ‘Public Administration Reform Project' which was prepared by four experts from British High Commission, Management and Political Studies Center . They made analysis on present structure and they made human resource analysis and prepared the project for the Prime Ministry.

Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Industry found the project findings, proofs and advices very realistic and valid which was prepared by an expert committee. Actually, findings are as same as what has been said by the Chamber for ages.

They are as follows:

“• Public Administration in North Cyprus is out of date. It should be up dated and restructured.

• Present administration ignores individual and institutional success, neither supports professionalism.

• Present administration and senior public workers are appointed politically, so productivity annihilates among public sector.

• Public reform is not possible with only administrative reforms; it should also be supported by powerful leadership, legal, institutional, managerial and cultural improvements.

• Positions and work descriptions mentioned in Ministries' bylaws are not up dated according to daily needs, contemporary norms and scientific outcomes.

• In North Cyprus there are nearly 14,500 public workers and this is nearly 17% of the whole working society. ( South Cyprus 12.37%, Malta 12%, Bulgaria 6.8%, Holland 7.53%)

• When you look at the bylaws of some offices, the ideal number of total worker are 18,656 people. That means 25% of the positions are still available.

• At the decision of responsibilities the coalition parties share power and there are out of date arrangements. This has a functional aim in Ministries' and has a great role in strategic objectives.

• There is a duty and an authority conflict in Public Sector and a lack of communication among related offices.

• Due to application of triple decree none of the highest three authorities (undersecretaries, ministry directors and office directors) have competition in order to get a position.

• There is no strategic planning, performance objectives and performance analysis in government offices.

• Until now there is no improvement in harmonization of the laws of North Cyprus and the laws of EU.

• Time to time there is a power conflict between Public Duties Commission and the Government, because all the members of the Commission are appointed by the President.

• As Ministries appoint people as temporary worker, they do not work properly and the job is not done continuously.

• High position authorities are taken from their active duties and they are appointed as ‘advisor', they get their salaries with a rise until they retired. Even these people have a second job or they work at their own job.

• According to Public Workers Law, an annual evaluation reports are prepared for workers, but these report are not used for awarding and personal or professional improvements. Besides this, people are never acknowledged with negative evaluations.

• In North Cyprus , the present complicated salary and evaluation system used in Public Sector is from British Colony.

• Most of the government workers in North Cyprus do not meet the needs of society, it only meets the needs of the institute they work for.

• ‘Employment guarantee for a life' disappear motivation in public sector. This is not fair for people with high performance, who are ambitious and talented.

• Public sector offers life long employment as well as better salary and retirement guarantee.

• As North Cyprus Public Administration has been having economical and political isolations for a long time, it has never had international comparison and no contemporary norm was followed.

• There was no honest relationship between politicians and public sector workers. As they appoint people according to their political choices, there is a lack of communication and conflict of authorities.”

Suggestions of the Chamber

Chamber of Industry put the following ideas and suggestions down about Public Reform:

“1- Public Administration Reform should be a major subject in order to change out of date, coarse and unfruitful Public Administration to contemporary, functioning, profitable with high performance criteria and of course administrated as citizen oriented.

2- In order to have a successful Reform two other Reforms, Social Security and Municipalities, should be dated same and they should be put into practice.

3- An effective, respectful, fast and profitable Public Administration should be aimed at and it should be clear and honest.

4- Mainly, Public Workers Law, Bylaws of Ministries and Offices and all the laws related to them should be rearranged and harmonized according to EU regulations

5- Work descriptions should be done again and positions should be rescheduled according to daily conditions. The number of positions needed and the number of workers should be found out.

6- In small economies ratio of public workers to the population is bigger than large economies. However in EU countries target ratio is nearly 8% - 10%.

7- As experts suggest, ‘Establishment of Works of EU and Public Administration Reform Ministry, harmonization of our laws with EU laws will be made. It will be suitable to have reform of public and other reforms with the coordination of this Ministry.

8- Triple decree should be limited by consultant and director of ministry for political positions. These people should return back to their previous position when they finish their political duties. Ordinary consultancy positions should be cancelled.

9- Establishment, duties and authorities of Public Duties Commission should be rechecked again. The members should not be appointed by only one political power(President). Members of the Commission should be appointed as follows: 30% by the President, 30% by Prime Minister, 30% by the Parliament and 10% by the High Court.

10- ‘Employment guarantee for a life' ‘automatic promotion according to the worked years' and ‘Political promotion' in public sector should be banned.

11- Employment and promotion procedures should be done according to EU regulations. There should be a criteria based on ‘productivity, performance, skill and success'.

12- Salaries should be put in the bank account. Except tax, all deductions should be done by the bank with the order of the account owner. Government should not do the job of collector of anybody or any organisations.

13- Temporary positions should be temporary; when the job is completed the worker should be sent. People working with a contract should not be permanent. The service bought should be finished by the contract.

14- There should not be difference between to transfer from private sector to government or from government sector to private. For this, there should be Single Type Social Security System.

15- Public service should be ‘citizen oriented'. It should be thought to public workers that their job is ‘to serve the citizen'.

16- It should be known that government public workers' do not have an employer. Politicians and public workers should know that they are all obliged to pay their taxes.

17- Public Administration's physical sub-structure will be developed and moved to computerized and electronic system.”

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