Source: Danas
Consequence of more or less resolute requirements from IMF negotiations, without completion of which it is difficult to even imagine remedy of our big budget deficit, is that the "rationalization of state government apparatus" has not only „come to the agenda", but has also become hyper-current topic. Of course, that's good news. Surely, one can rightfully ask questions, like - why has the rationalization been postponed so far, why have the impulses already present for years been ignored, why even modest attempts to do something have bounced off the firm armor of „lack of political will"? However, judging by the current status, it seems more appropriate, instead of searching for answers to those questions, to „opportunistically" acknowledge „better safe than sorry" principle and finally get to real rationalization implementation.
А rationalization is, at least according to the definition, as its name says, a completely rational thing. That means clear definition of its objective and eliminates forbidden simplification of the solution to otherwise necessarily, downsize the number of employees in the power apparatus. Because even besides generally too big number of employees, we still have lack of employees in some vital jobs, and also hypertrophy of power structure, which has as its side effect additional „army" of dignitaries.
Almost two years ago, my collaborators have, in order to assist the journalists and the public in general in achieving the right to free access to information, compiled and published on the website www.poverenik.org.rs, a document titled Catalog of Public Authorities. That is comprehensive, but non-pretentious analytical document, more of a directory, inventory list. However it is indicative that even today, although it is not completely updated, it still offers in one place the biggest number of information regarding issues relevant for rationalization. It covers around 11,000 subjects, who at all levels, from the highest to the state one execute some type of power, or spend public money. Speaking about the highest, state level, there are 6 so-called highest bodies, 24 ministries, 18 independent and regulatory bodies, 23 agencies, 16 republic bureaus, 10 directorates, 7 funds and 40-something „others" - administrations, centers, commissions, etc., and some additional 80-ish companies with public authorizations or predominant state capital.
It is already almost trivial example that we have Ministry of Mining and Energy and together with it three agencies, for energy, energy efficiency and for mining. Besides the Ministry of Education we have Institute for Enhancing Education and Training, but also Institute for Evaluating Quality of Education and Training. Next to the Ministry of Environmental Protection we have Environmental Protection Agency, but also Nature Preservation Bureau. We have several bodies dealing in regionalism, regionalization, regional development, although we are the country in which regionalization hasn't been even started, and is mostly a theoretical phenomenon. Even the expert public has difficulty in understanding the purpose of some „institutions". Rationalization surely means an obligation to, if possible, explain their purpose, or to rescind them.
Speaking about the number of employees in the state apparatus, and about costs for their work, there is no similar catalogue, at least at informative level, no comprehensive document. And as a Commissioner for Information I know that the citizens and media have problems in trying to reach such information, that they often reach them just after the Commissioner's intervention, and there were, even from the standpoint of elementary democratic standards, tragicomic attempts by certain bodies in power (and those were not just security structures), to deny such data to the public by invoking their proclaimed „secrecy".
Because we haven't done it so far, our opting for rationalization is the moment to conclude that we are definitely not any more in a position to tolerate the fact that many in positions of power „can't understand" the notorious truth - that the publicity in the work of government directly correlates with the rationality of its operations. Simply stated, more publicity guarantees more rationality in everything, including governmental organization and employment.
It should be made completely undisputable that the bodies in power, even those on the state level and all the others, are obliged to publicize and to continuously publish updated data on the number of employees and costs they make. It is certain that those data, for the beginning, shall not be even at least pleasant, but therefore we have to face them as soon as possible and without delay, and to do everything necessary for them to become more pleasant. Pushing them under the carpet or hiding them behind the „veil of secrecy" is in this case both legal and logical nonsense. A great majority of us „knows", or better said „feels" what is hiding beneath it - a serious, big, difficult problem. But the basic and first assumption for resolving any problem is not the „feeling", but having complete and clear sense of its dimensions. Without such estimate we'll have more than realistic risk to have certain irrational things in the announced rationalization. We could not let ourselves have something like that. Independently from IMF, our reality requires not to "try to resolve" the problem of hypertrophied and inefficient administration, but to resolve it. Achieving certain goals is possible only by using certain means. If the goal is really rational and efficient government, maximal publicity of its work is one of the inevitable means for achieving that goal. The Author is Commissioner for Information
