Unity state vows to reform employment policy

October 13, 2013 (BENTIU) - South Sudan’s Unity state government says it is committed to reforming its employment policy for civil servants working in the state.

The move came after caretaker governor Joseph Nguen Monytuel formed several committees to investigate the dismissal of thousands of government employees in 2010.

Officials have called for previous mistakes to be corrected in line with the civil services law.

Public service minister Benjamin Majak Dau says employment policy on civil servants was unfair when it came to the recruitment of people in the state, adding that most of the policy that currently applies was not based on the law.

Dau said that most employers were not even aware of the laws governing employment in the public service sector.

International NGOs, companies and other public institutions are among those failing to abide by existing labour laws – a trend seen right across the country, according to Dau.

“The first thing that I will do is to publish this civil services act to all the ministries departments in the state and the counties so that they are [able to] abide by the law when they are dealing with the issues pertaining [to the employment or dismissal of employees”, he said.

Dau says the public services ministry believes a new pension act introduced in Unity state will help makes laws more clear.

There is currently no oversight body responsible for employees that have reached pension age or are requiring pension services.

He said his ministry is proposing that the state government form a directorate for pension and social insurances to deal with ongoing employment issues and to punish institutions failing to abide by the laws.

Unity state’s former governor, Taban Deng Gai, says his order to dismiss thousands of government employees was due to the discovery of a large number of ghost names, as well as over employment in state-paid roles.

High numbers of unclassified staff working in various public institutions were among those sacked.

(ST)