The Public Service Commission (PSC) says it is going to investigate the circumstances under which ‘incompetent’ civil servants get jobs in public institutions.This follows recent cases where some public officials displayed high levels of incompetence in their work while appearing before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).Francois Habiyakare, the chairperson of PSC, said the commission was interested in finding out what causes incompetence among some of the civil servants yet they presumably obtained jobs through proper procedures.“They are recruited after scoring a minimum of 70 per cent in job interviews. I wonder why, after getting the opportunity, one fails to perform according to job expectations,” Habiyakare, who was speaking at a news briefing in Kigali on Wednesday, said.The PSC chief said lack of seriousness among employees or poor management systems in their institutions might be behind poor performance of workers in public institutions.“We hope capacity building skills and evaluation of public servants will play a key role in addressing issues of incompetency among civil servants,” he said.Changing jobsThe PSC chief also spoke about the movement of public servants from one job to another within the public administration, saying it has become a serious issue and the commission was looking into it.At the news briefing, PSC’s authorities highlighted some of the achievements registered by the institution during the period covering 2012/2013 in the areas of capacity building, research in public service management, work related challenges and job recruitment procedures in the public sector.Cabinet recently approved two draft laws aimed at streamlining the public sector as part of the country’s long term plan to overhaul the performance and efficiency of the sector.The draft law determining the organisation and functioning of the Public Service Commission and another on Rwanda Public Service will replace the existing ones put in place in 2008.Once enacted into law, the legislation will define terms of emoluments of public servants, promotions and possible demotions or dismissal from work, depending on their performance.On retirement age, Angelina Muganza, the executive secretary of PSC, said although the retirement age was 65, if someone attained the age of 60 and wanted to retire, the person notifies the employer and clearly states the reasons for their choice of action.
