EMPLOYMENT WITHIN PUBLIC SECTOR MUST BE MADE TRANSPARENT AND FAIR

During 2017, in spite of moratorium, new employments were registered in 71% of the surveyed public institutions and enterprises, usually with no prior competition procedure* Urgently adopt the Regulation on the Procedure for Admission to Employment in Public Service of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A public panel discussion entitled „Transparent, meritorious and responsible employments within public sector“, organized by the Centers for Civic Initiatives (CCI) and Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) was held today in Sarajevo. The panel was aimed at supporting the adoption of reform laws and by-laws that regulate fair and transparent admissions and employments within public sector.

„A survey conducted by CCI during the first half of 2017, showed that several hundred new employments, usually without competition procedure, were registered in 71% of the surveyed public institutions, primarily in the sector of health-care, education, public enterprises and extra-budgetary funds. Considering the public sector in general, the number of newly employed in 2017 reaches several thousand. In public institutions and enterprises that were encompassed with this survey, in 57% of cases the decision on employment was made based only on the „interview“ with candidate, often without any precise criteria and procedures. Therefore, the decision-making depends on the personal assessment of each member of commission, so the situations in which one commission member gives maximum number of points for an answer, while the other member gives minimum for the same, are not rare. The additional problem is the method of establishing the competition commissions. In most of the public sector, outside the civil service, which means around 80% of budget employees, the method of selecting the competition commissions, process transparency, competencies and independence of the commission usually depend on the manager who hires people, which makes the notion of public competition meaningless“, it was indicated in the Report on monitoring the appointments and employments within public sector in BiH, that has been presented today.

TI BIH and CCI have also presented today the content of the „Regulation on the Procedure for Admission to Eployment in Public Service of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina“, that should be adopted immediately after the final adoption of the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Labour in the Parliament of the Federation of BiH, which is expected to be done at the session scheduled for Monday, 30th October, 2017. TI BiH and CCI have prepared the working material of the Regulation that should significantly improve the employment system in public sector, and secure the employment of the best qualified personnel. The Regulation defines in details the procedure for admission to a position within public service of the FBiH, including the obligation to announce the public competition, precise definition of criteria for selection of competition commission members, the way of points awarding and hiring the best candidates. In this way, TI BiH and CCI gave their contribution to the better implementation of the public administration reform in the area of human resource management in accordance with SIGMA principles and requests of the European Union in the process of enlargement, specifically in regard to the improvement of practices, appointments and employments based on the principles of transparency, dignity and accountability, and not the party preference.

TI BiH and CCI appeal to the MPs of the FBiH Parliament to finally complete the parliamentary procedure for adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Labour of the Federation of BiH, in order to enable adoption of the Regulation on the Procedure for Admission to Employment in Public Service of the FBiH.