Source: "Danas"
The crisis will create a need to address the issue of redundant employees in public administration
Rodoljub Sabic, personal attitude
The world economic crisis and the increase of domestic budget deficit will certainly confront us in the near future with the inevitable need to address an issue which has been swept under the carpet for an intolerably long period of time: a problem of a huge number of employees in our overstaffed Government. And it is equally certain that they will make us regret we let years in which that problem could have been solved in a more convenient or at least less dramatic way just slip by.
News I found while surfing on the Internet on the TV B92 website and which is very associative to me reminded me recently about that. It says that the number of civil servants in local self-government in the city of Kragujevac is much, much higher than the necessary, optimal number of employees. The Mayor of Kragujevac said for B92 that there were "more than 750" of them, while the opposition claimed that there were at least 850 of them and that their real number was "wrapped in a veil of secrecy". Still, both sides agreed that the number was too high, that the burden for local communities was too heavy and that it "must" be reduced to a "realistic size".
But, what is the "realistic size"? Some say that according to European standards the number of employees is defined by the rule: one civil servant per about 1,000 inhabitants. According to this, Kragujevac with slightly more than 200,000 inhabitants should have 200, 250 or 300 civil servants at the most in the local self-government administration.
Apart from that, the question of how many employees Kragujevac should have according to its own instruments on organization of services of local self-government was also raised, because those instruments ought to have regulated the number of employees and conditions they should meet. The opposition claims that those documents and data are "wrapped in a veil of secrecy" and that the number of employees and their qualifications do not correspond to what is written in instruments.
The news from Kragujevac reminded me about one almost bizarre, slightly forgotten case from my practice. It was an appeal, request for protection of the right which came from Kragujevac. It was bizarre because it was filed by a party who was least expected to do so - by the Ombudsman of the city of Kragujevac. Few people know that Kragujevac was the first city in Serbia to establish this institution by its instruments, even when the Republic of Serbia did not have it, with a task to protect citizens' rights and control operations of local self-government. It is a nice thing, one of those worthy of credit.
However, the "administration supervisor" in Kragujevac expressed doubt that the enormous number of people was employed in the city administration, not just according to criteria set by instruments on organization and classification, but by party criteria as well, and he requested relevant information and documents from city authorities. It seems that authorities then concluded that he "was interfering too much in his job" and denied him the requested information.
I reacted to the Ombudsman's appeal not only by adequate order, but by public announcement as well indicating that denial of such information to any person was an absurd, that this information must be available to the public at any time and that their denial to the Ombudsman placed his functions in almost tragicomic context. Authorities acted according to my order. The Ombudsman received requested information and documents and confirmed his doubts. But soon after that he was relieved of office.
I dealt with the "case of the Ombudsman in Kragujevac" more than three years ago, in December 2005. Thus, the news about the enormous number of employees dates from then. What were those three years spent on? Was it only to confirm that ugly, senseless and discouraging truth that those who blow the whistle face reprisal?
Kragujevac is a large local self-government for a country the size of Serbia, but it is still only one of more than 170 such governments and in all likelihood the situation is very similar in most of them. And of course, the news is not specific only for that city and it is not "wrapped in a veil of secrecy" only in that city. Nor is the remark that the number of employees is not determined by the interests of local communities and citizens, but by the interests of political parties.
Fortunately, there are different examples, although not as many as one might wish. But in any case there are enough of them to point to a very indicative thing. The fact is that in communities in which the number of employees in local self-government is not "wrapped in a veil of secrecy" and whose communication with the public is exemplary given the circumstances in our country, such as the cities of Sabac, Valjevo or Smederevo, things are quite different and better. For example, the cities of Sabac and Valjevo are local self-governments with 100,000 and 120,000 inhabitants, respectively, and the number of employees in their administrations is about 170 in the first case and about 240 in the second case. Thus, they also have a problem with the number of employees, but the scale of that problem is obviously much, much smaller compared to Kragujevac and almost certainly compared to those communities in which the public manages only from time to time to remove the famous "veil of secrecy". Of course, that only confirms the notorious truth which unfortunately many persons from the Government in our country have difficulties to accept - publicity in operations of any government is directly correlated to rationality of its operations. Put simply, more publicity guarantees more rationality. This is true of everything, including employment.
This is why it is really high time we affirmed a principle that public authorities, at the local self-government level and all the others, must publish among other things relevant and updated information on the number of employees and on their costs. Of course, that information will certainly not be pleasant at all, but all the more so we should face them. One thing is indisputable, and that is the fact that the basic, initial assumption for solving any problem is having a complete and clear idea about its scale. The author is the Commissioner for Information
