STANDARD VOICE Civil Servants Turns To Campaigning.....Paralyzing Government Institutions Posted by on Sep 3, 2007, 15:52

The attention of the editorial team of this press has been drawn to the activities of most government employees in our current political dispensation.

There are persistent report from the various government ministries, department and agencies (MDA’s) that most prominent figures have now abandoned their official and constitutional functions and are in the fields politicking.

Reportedly such moves are the part of government employees have intensified when it was realized during the ballot counting exercises that the opposition All Peoples Congress Party was leading and there was the likelihood for second rounds.

Understandably, even before the chief electoral commissioner could make her pronouncement about the run-off, most top government employees drove abandoned their places of work and are now well under way with campaign.  As a media, we wish to make it abundantly clear that the actions of most top government officials’ amounts to a contravention of the codes and ethics guiding their operations.  For those in the civil service in particular, the general order is very explicit about the activities of government employees when it comes to politics.  This is however not respected by the civil servants since they believe that they are “working for the government and therefore bound to enjoy its protection”.

What we at this press wish to emphasis is that government institution must be made to exist and function effectively and efficiently at all times.  Any breach of this must warrant proportional punishment for the violators.

Civil servant or not, every Sierra Leonean has right to participate in politics by voting.  But for the civil servants, their code of ethnic emphasized that there must be a limitation to the degree of their political participation.

The civil servants are not expected to go out openly, as such an action on their part would make them target if there is change of government.  Contrary to all these, our civil servants are currently at the forefront of political campaigning for the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party.

One such institution which has not only be notoriously involved in campaigning for the Sierra Leone Peoples Party and whose ministry is reportedly to be virtually empty is the ministry of finance.  Accordingly, virtually every senior official in that ministry of finance have been sent up-country for campaigning.  In fact, our information is that most of them have been made SLPP agents and some will be polling agents for the run-off.  The danger associated with having civil servants coming at the forefront of politics is that should there be any change of government the in-coming will not reply on those same civil servants.

This has to be so because the civil servants have a pivotal role to play in projecting the image of any government.  Therefore, if … in coming government cannot trust the same civil servants to honest and judiciously guide and implement their policies and programme.  The reading populace can by now understand why there are rumours that the names of some people are now on the lists for possible replace.  They simple reason is, if it will at all happen, will be as a result of their over activities during this electioneering process against other/opposition parties.

As a media, we are therefore calling on the establishment secretary’s office to note that large number of the civil servants is acting contrary to the general orders.   Such civil servants cannot be trusted any longer.