UGANDA
Minister threatens tardy staff
Uganda’s Minister for Local Government, Jenipher Namuyangu (pictured) has berated Public Servants in the District of Rukungiri for coming to work late or not at all, saying they risked losing their jobs.
The Minister was visiting the Kebisoni Health Centre when she was told the Outpatient Department did not open until 9 am.
“Assume an expectant mother who started labour pains at night and is here in the morning; does she get to wait up to 9 am?” Ms Namuyangu asked.
She said that must stop immediately.
“You must know that your job is not only a job, but also a calling from God,” Ms Namuyangu said.
“How can you leave a dying patient on a veranda claiming that it’s past your duty time? God must also punish you in the same way.”
Rukungiri, 3 August 2018
UNITED KINGDOM
Agency urged to ignore pay limit
The UK Environment Agency has been urged to push back against Treasury pay guidance limiting rises for Public Servants to 1.5 per cent.
The Prospect union said the guidance should not apply to the Agency as most of its staff were not PS employees, coming under the Local Government pension scheme.
The Environment Agency is a non-Departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Prospect said any offer made to the Agency’s staff would need to include a significant increase in payments for the many standby and incident-response roles they undertook.
London, 9 August 2018
ISRAEL
PM nominates PS Commissioner
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has put forward former Minister of Science, Daniel Hershkovitz as his compromise candidate for Public Service Commissioner.
Mr Hershkovitz, who was most recently the President of Bar-Ilan University, will now be examined by the Special Parliamentary Committee that sanctions such appointments.
The Committee disqualified Mr Netanyahu’s first choice of candidate, Ofra Bracha, who was considered to be too close an associate of the Prime Minister.
Jerusalem, 3 August 2018
NIGERIA
Travel rorts uncovered
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating travel allowances paid to 87 officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Federal Civil Service Commission.
The country has 114 embassies around the world staffed by personnel from the MFA.
When annual promotion examinations are due, they are usually conducted on the spot.
The EFCC said 36 officers from the MFA and 51 from the Federal Civil Service Commission were sent to supervise the exercise.
“It is alleged that the travel allowances paid to these officers was far more than it should have been while many spent fewer days than was approved overseas,” an EFCC source said.
Abuja, 7 August 2018
UNITED STATES
State bans 17 telcos
The Public Service Commission of Mississippi has taken the unprecedented step of revoking the certificates of 17 telecommunications companies, meaning they cannot operate within the American State.
Northern District Public Service Commissioner, Brandon Presley said the companies had failed to provide the Commission with an annual report detailing their business activities in Mississippi.
He said the businesses were also not in compliance with the Secretary of State’s office requirements.
“We will not allow these companies to just flaunt the law,” Mr Presley said.
“If you fail to respond to us, we cannot believe you are responsive to your customers.”
Jackson, 8 August 2018
GUINEA-BISSAU
Strike ends after payrise
Public Servants in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau have ended their strike after being offered a new salary scale by the Government.
This will involve pay rises coming into effect in September, raising the minimum wage to CFA50,000 (A$118.40) — a 72.4 per cent increase.
Secretary-General of the National Union of Workers of Guinea-Bissau, Júlio Mendonça said he expected the Government to comply with the document and announced the suspension the Public Service strike.
The more than 30,000 Guinea-Bissau PS employees last received a pay rise in 1994.
Bissau, 3 August 2018
KENYA
Training initiative announced
Kenya’s Ministry of Public Service has unveiled plans to train more than 250,000 young people in how to run small-scale businesses.
The youths will be trained under the Kenya Youth Employment Opportunities Project run by the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA).
Chair of the NITA, Kamau Gachigi said the NITA had contracted 541 master craftsmen to train 2,117 trainees in five counties.
“The Project’s objective is to contribute to the economic development of Kenya,” Mr Gachigi said.
“The current industrial training facilities suffer from ageing infrastructure and inadequate human resources.”
Nairobi, 6 August 2018
