Jordan Times
Friday, June 4, 2004
Premier urges CSB to
develop information systems
AMMAN (Petra) — Prime Minister Faisal Fayez on Thursday stressed the importance
of ensuring justice and equal opportunities for civil servants in terms of
appointments, promotions and scholarships.
Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Mohammad
Halaiqa, Fayez met senior officials and employees at the Civil Service Bureau (CSB).
He highlighted the role of various incentives like savings funds and housing
projects in enhancing employees' sense of stability and job security.
The premier urged the CSB team to develop information systems that would help
them carry out their mission with the utmost efficiency.
He also urged sound planning for state agencies' needs for manpower, saying such
a process should be coordinated between the bureau and personnel sections at
other government departments.
The aim is to regularly update government human resources staff on the latest
changes and criteria related to public jobs, the premier told the CSB staff.
He referred to the possibility of allowing contract-based appointment, provided
that hiring under this category follows due procedures and competitiveness
criteria.
Human resources development is a cornerstone in the government's strategy to
modernise the public sector. “Public officials are the persons capable of
achieving change and development,” he said, underlining the key role of the
bureau as “the main regulator of civil service affairs.”
Despite “change of roles” in light of the expanding functions of the private
sector and civil society institutions, Fayez said public officials remain
instrumental in the process of optimising the potential of all sectors in the
service of the country's interests.
CSB President Mazen Saket said the total number of job seekers who have filed
applications at his agency now stands at 103,000. The number was reduced after
the bureau conducted a “renewal” process of the files late last year. Then the
number of applications was 171,000, including 67,000 from two-year diploma
holders. The premier said a solution should be worked out for the problem of
this category through rehabilitation programmes, while unemployed PhD holders
should be absorbed by universities and ministries.
The ministries of interior and higher education are coordinating efforts to
replace non-Jordanian faculty members at private and public universities with
qualified Jordanians.
According to Saket, the CSB's JD103,000 budget is not sufficient to properly
carry out reforms in the agency, through which 7,600 civil servants were hired
last year.
He presented a three-part strategy the bureau outlined to develop the civil
service body. The plan is based on reforms to relevant legislation, training and
human resources development, and awareness campaigns to change society's
attitudes towards government jobs, encouraging them to seek careers in the
private sector.