MPs call for unambiguous public service recruitment procedures

Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs have asked public institutions to design well-spelt out job requirements for applicants to avoid recruiting incompetent people. The MPs were yesterday examining the 2013/14 Public Service Commission (PSC) report. Marie Rose Mureshyankwano, the Committee chairperson, said most of job requirements are not clearly underlined; leaving room for even the non-qualified to apply and consequently take up positions they are not qualified for. She added that this has had a negative impact on service delivery among other irregularities. “Most job adverts provide for ‘other related fields’ as part of academic requirements. This confuses job seekers as well as those identifying eligible candidates to take up available slots. It is better for human recourse managers to clearly underline what those ‘other related fields’ are so they can have well qualified candidates applying for jobs,” Mureshyankwano said. The PSC report, tabled before Parliament last year, indicated unspecified number of jobs that were taken up by ‘wrong people’ due to unclear provisions provided in announcement for vacant posts and required qualifications. “If you want doctors to apply for a job and you also encourage those in ‘other related fields’ to apply, it will mean that pharmacists can also apply for that particular job. And who knows, the pharmacists might excel in the theory exams and take up the job at the expense of qualified doctors. This is wrong, we need to have clearly stipulated requirements and expectations from the prospective candidates,” MP Joseph Désiré Nyandwi said. MPs Gastone Rusiha and Anitha Mutesi, argued that this could explain why some irregularities have been reported in public tenders. The 2013 Auditor General’s report indicates that about 30 per cent of public tenders awarded did not comply with public procurement guidelines. The report noted that there were mistakes in project design and study, with poorly prepared bidding documents, among other shortcomings. However, Judith Uwizeye, the Minister for Public Service and Labour, told The New Times that such vague provisions in job requirements have been scrapped off in the ongoing restructuring of public service. “Those ambiguous requirements have been removed with the current public service restructuring process,” Uwizeye said. “We now have clear requirements for public servants. Even cases of experience will only be determined by the position one is applying for; other than managerial positions, other lower positions will require no or minimal working experience,” Uwizeye said.

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MPs call for unambiguous public service recruitment procedures