PAKISTAN
Ban on blind judge reversed
Pakistan’s Chief Justice has intervened to allow the appointment of the country’s first visually impaired judge.
Yousaf Saleem (pictured), a lawyer working as an Assistant Director in the Legal Department of the Punjab Provincial Government, was a successful candidate in a written test to become a civil judge, but was initially denied the position because of his disability.
However, Chief Justice, Mian Saqib Nisar directed that the case be reviewed saying that a person could be a judge even if blind, provided he met all other qualifications.
Mr Saleem was blind from birth and has four sisters, two of whom are also blind.
One, Saima Saleem, became the first blind person to pass the Public Service examination in 2007 and currently works in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat as a Deputy Secretary.
Islamabad, 14 May 2018
MALTA
FoI requests on contractors fail
Malta’s Chief Public Servant has turned down a Freedom of Information (FoI) request on the number of Public Service contractors who were converted into permanent Government workers before the last election.
Principal Permanent Secretary, Mario Cutajar said he had rejected the FoI request because his office did not hold the information.
Sources in the Office of the Prime Minister said Mr Cutajar’s response was strange as it was his office that had issued a directive that the contracts be transformed.
The directive was interpreted by many in the Public Service as a measure to appease Government employees who were on fixed-term contacts at a time when Malta was on the eve of a General Election.
Valetta, 11 May 2018
NIGERIA
PS staff to conduct immunisations
The Nigerian Government has announced that all Public Servants will be trained to carry out routine immunisations.
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency said a workshop in the capital, Abuja would instruct the first batch of Government workers on how to deliver the immunisations.
“They will be taught by leading experts, and we see this as a good basic service to individuals and households in many Nigerian communities,” an official said.
“We see Civil Servants as the leading agents and drivers of the success of any Government program and policy.”
Abuja, 13 May 2018
NETHERLANDS
Deadline set on pay demands
Public Service staff in the Netherlands have given the Government until this week (21 May) to respond to their wage demands before industrial action begins.
The ultimatum was handed to Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, Kasja Ollongren.
Strikes are planned at the Tax Office and at Customs, while other Government officers will hold go-slow actions.
The unions have demanded a 3.5 per cent wage increase.
However, Ms Ollongren said there was “a gap between the possibilities and the demands that were set”.
She did not make a counter offer.
The Hague, 15 May 2018
ZIMBABWE
Teachers give pay offer a low mark
A pay offer of 15 per cent from the Zimbabwean Government to the nation’s teachers has been dismissed as “insignificant”.
President of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Raymond Majongwe said the last salary rise for teachers was seven years ago — “and we may go for another seven years without an increment”.
“We need to be given something reasonable,” Mr Majongwe said.
“The increment given to us will be walloped by charges as it is availed to us in plastic money and this means it is very expensive for our members.”
President of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, Obert Masaraure said: “Our members will now lead us on a way forward that will stop these shenanigans”.
Harare, 16 May 2018
INDIA
PS watchdog yet to meet
A media investigation has revealed that the Indian State of West Bengal’s Right to Public Service Commission has not met since its inception in 2015.
Under its charter, the Commission is supposed to ensure “delivery of public services to the people … within the stipulated time”.
It is expected to conduct periodical investigations, hold hearings and deliver reports to the Government.
The Department of Consumer Affairs, which is responsible for the Commission, admitted it had not conducted any hearings on public grievances.
However, it was tight-lipped over why this was or whether staff employed by the Commission continued to be paid.
Kolkata, 11 May 2018
