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....Editorial

28th January 2012
A burden of transitional inheritance

No new Prime Minister, anywhere, should have to wait two months after winning an election to be able to appoint a Press Secretary. But that was the case here of late, after the outgoing politically-appointed holder of the post refused to vacate his office, as expected.
Our system is no different from any other anywhere else. Political appointees appointed by an outgoing administration leave with the old administration and make way for the new. Governments come and go but Public Servants stay. However, political appointees from one administration do not metamorphose into the next – except in the rare case where they are invited to stay on by the incoming government. That’s the norm, so it is against this background that it sounded strange that the Prime Minister had inherited vestiges of the past administration who didn’t seem like they were about to follow those who appointed them through the door and out of the building.
Government officials seem to be guarding details, but in some cases it’s said to have been discovered that certain political appointees (from the last administration) had been able, before the last General Elections, to negotiate or receive extended contracts that tied them to their jobs beyond the transition to the next government. With such contracts they would be guaranteed monthly salaries – and if their contracts were terminated they would, hopefully, have to be paid (by the government) the cost of the duration of their contract.
How ethical and/or honest does this practice sound?
 
 

In deference to the legal considerations that may be involved, we shall not specify any case. But this whole matter of contracts being signed just ahead of an election to tie the hands of the next government (change or not) needs attention, because this is not the first time. Indeed, after the 2006 General Elections a new Cabinet Minister publicly complained that a contract of a senior officer appointed by the previous government had been signed on Election Day. That should not have been then and it should not be now. Political appointees must go out the door when governments change so that the new government can be free to decide what to do with the post.
In normal situations, political appointees are expected to exercise their discretion and submit their resignations once the administration changes. It happens in all mature societies. Mature societies the world over have developed mechanisms for smooth transitions after elections. But, as we just saw, this isn’t yet the case here, where it can take a week for the new Prime Minister to be appointed, another week for the new Cabinet to be sworn-in – and two months for the new Prime Minister to be able to appoint his own Press Secretary. This is simply not good enough. After 33 years (soon) as a nation developing its state structures, it is absolutely imperative that we develop mechanisms for smooth transitions from one government to the next.

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