Blog: Debauchery of the civil servant

Mauritius should pride itself over having a brood of civil servants who rise above the common run known in Africa and Asia. Both African and Asian civil service distinguish themselves by its obsequious attitude to the political master because Ministers wield a lot of connection power, power to influence other politicians so that they feel they are trapped in a nexus of relationships where sycophancy is equated with advancement.

Politicians know in Mauritius how greedy the civil servant is for precedence; for certain perks and privileges that make one become the object for envy.

There have been illustrious civil servants in the past and they have all been distinguished individuals invested with superior intelligence, capable of managing the tight-rope between supine subservience and a self respect that prevents them from yielding to suggestions of graft, venality, excess coming from outside. These who include Mr. Burrenchobay, Mr. Richard, Mr. Benymandhub, Mrs. Veerapen grew up in an atmosphere that could easily have reduced them to genuflexion. But they excelled because they did not need to add to their plate the crumbs that politicians throw in order to enthral the civil servant.
What can tempt a civil servant? Quick promotion through special boost at top levels where the future of individuals is debated around filled glasses among members of a coterie is top on the chart of needs. Maslow`s hierarchy needs reinvention because here is a person who has all he needs, but needs more in order to wield decisional power more quickly than one`s rivals. The less time one takes to reduce the distance between yourself and the minister the better for you. The arrival of a new minister would be the proper stage to start a common scenario. The civil servant will stand on his toes to please his/her Highness. Courtship means sacrifice during the first weeks of companionship.

The civil servant will frown when the minister frowns, smile when his political master bursts into a flowery and blossoming mood. Ministers easily notice those who are ready to do extras. Once the minister has noticed the incumbent the post courtship period starts. The civil servant will stay in office till night falls because the minister may reach office at that time. Once important work has been completed during such extra hours, it becomes a habit to stay till late hours in order to schedule productive meetings outside busy, hectic working hours.

The stranger now becomes the confidant and the privileged civil servant who has ploughed his way to this height now becomes a mini dictator in the animal farm among equals. If minister and civil servant are bound by blood there are certain difficult roads that need not be travelled because trust is built de facto. If the civil servant hosts the flag of the same colour as his minister in streets, the amity of the gutter will remain the guiding principle in office. Secrets can be shared and if you are a civil servant who does not belong to the tribe you will meet walls of silence once you enter an office where secrets are being shared amidst guffaws and lowvoiced protests.

The civil servant who is  an enthusiastic stooge of a political master will run extra miles to do successfully what another servant will do dispassionately according to precedents. A vacation leave the approval of which is expected today will have been cleared at top level because the file will be dug out of the cemetery of files with similar requests because a special person has to be gratified. Certain civil servants who are thickly protected by an iron curtain of political umbrage have even gone to the extent of asking lady officers impatient to obtain a vacation leave to accompany their children in their crusade against CPE  to pay for an approval in very dubious terms. Any attempt to treat this as a scandal is silenced by a non committal statement: `This is too common. Pas cass la tet’

Many other perks fill the battery of temptations. Nominations on boards, especially those carrying hefty sitting fees, missions abroad are the most important of gifts that can corrupt the civil servant. Missions to Africa are inferior to those to European countries. One just has to notice the culture of Omerta that surrounds the beneficiaries. Who are the persons who decide who will go abroad? All ministers are guilty of having corrupted civil servants by the glitter of missions abroad. The beneficiary is quiet over his gift till you notice his absence. On enquiry, the very person who is supposed to be your friend is heard to have caught the morning flight to Europe for a conference which might have suited you because are dealing with the schedule. If a particular civil servant lives in the minister`s constituency during election time and his family can fetch two hundred voters of the same pedigree, he becomes the well born civil servant because he will earn the choicest benefits of management till elections.

This dismal picture of civil servants should not blind us to the wealth of potential existing in our civil service. Much of the genius is buried by a hollow competitive culture that encourages corruption and corruptibility. The average civil servant cannot extricate himself from the culture of obsequiousness that seniors foster. The intelligence of thinking out of the box is discouraged. Mistakes are demonized and criminalized as though one flaw is enough to run down the whole career of a well intentioned officer. Seniors encourage proceduralism, dogged observance of rule irrespective of the spirit of the law, the culture of silence at the expense of critical creativity. Innovation is viewed with fear because it smacks of change. The culture of precedence and the sacredness of hierarchy imposes a heavy responsibility for an action is accountable and subject to the scrutiny of Audit office or the SLO and ultimately can constitute a police case. Every head finds a way of wriggling out of prime responsibility and makes a surrogate take charge. By the rule of collective responsibility all the partners responsible for a case of corruption should suffer the same fate. But then there are subterfuges. The overzealous, the impatient to help a benefactor, the low ranking officer who lacks the experience to protect himself by astute use of verbal gymnastics in a minute on file will easily find himself a prisoner of his unwanted enthusiasm. Emotions are the last rampart of the weak, and when it crumbles the deluge overwhelms the too civil servant. The unending clash between administrators and technicians is yet another cause of exacerbation in the civil service. At all times public service reformers have recommended team building, the elimination of walls in favour of open spaces and workstations. Ministries send their officers at great expense to listen to Robin Sharma, Shiv Khera, and other management gurus. Not an iota of modern management is put into practice. Corruptibility is rife where competition creates rivalry, fosters jealousy and where every officer is mudslinging his mate and reducing him to a heap of bones when talking to other officers.

The Performance management system is a failure because no one seems to trust superior civil servants’ assessment. Graft and queue jumping have become so widespread that orphaned officers (those without glittering connections, without distinctive personality traits and intelligence without blood ties by birth or by marital links) suspect foul play and unfortunately make it their credo that you need to be connected to advance. This is very dangerous for a public service we want to reform. We cannot go on tolerating postponing, minimalism at work, cooking excuses for absences or leave, making holiday from work become a way to avenge oneself against a boss who is demanding. We cannot find evidence to pin down the recalcitrant and we reconcile ourselves with degradation of service in schools, hospitals, offices, social welfare centres, among all officers from the manual worker to the officer of the top echelon. This is a country where everybody seems to have rights and very few have responsibilities.

Today this degradation touches even professionals. Specialists badmouth each other with patients in order to discourage them from seeking the assistance of their rivals.

How can a specialist advise a patient not to take a pill prescribed by another when this pill is that which is most essential for the patient’s survival? Rivalry should not make a doctor game and toy with a patient`s life merely to settle scores with a more fortunate rival.

We must show the discipline we admire in Singapore. To gain the dimensions of Singapore, we must be ready to abandon the laxity of a pleasure island.