Bulky and inefficient – that’s how public administration in BiH could be briefly described.
“Almost 80 percent of citizens believe that they get a job in public administration through connections, and the same percentage of people see corruption in public administration, which is really devastating data. Also, almost 80 percent of respondents do not trust the work of public administration, which is truly devastating after 20 years of attempts to reform public administration, which is still at the very beginning”, says Srđan Traljić, Transparency International BiH), reports UNA television.
This could and should be changed by implementing activities from the existing Action Plan. However, the Institutions of BiH have so far implemented only 16% of the total of 136 activities from the plan. In the last report, the European Commission also assessed that we have not gone far yet.
That little has been done is also confirmed by the fact that last year the Council of Ministers extended the period of validity of the Strategic Framework for Public Administration Reform, originally planned for the period from 2018 to 2022, and now it is until 2027.
The recommendation of the European Commission is first of all the revision of the Action Plan with a focus on digitalization of services and the reform process, which is currently being worked on, according to the PARCO. The establishment of the employee register, as another recommendation, is expected in the next two years and after the recently adopted Amendments to the Law on Civil Service. But what to do with a large number of employees in the public administration? The Office claims that there are none. Quality systematization is needed.
“It will not be seen that this is some kind of large percentage of people who work in public administration for the reason that today’s times require digitization, and in order for us to be the users of these new resources, we must have adequate training for these people”, points out Darko Kasap, coordinator for public administration reform in BiH.
So there will be no layoffs? I believe that it won’t because, we are living in this time as it is, it also means a change of generation of civil servants who are now slowly coming to the end of their working lives, so I believe that with smart systematization and scheduling of people, there will not be any surplus people in the public administration.
Nevertheless, there is progress, as evidenced by the statements of citizens who, unlike in the earlier period, are mostly satisfied with the work of the public administration.
Those who are not satisfied with the service and the complicated administration say that it does not work in favor of the citizens. But it is to the authorities, who, according to Transparency, used the public administration for the purpose of staying in power. Will European integration change such practices?