GOVT WILL NO LONGER HIRE ON CONTRACT BASIS

MBABANE – Government will no longer be hiring locals on contract basis. Instead, they will be hired as temporary employees.

This is contained in a memorandum that was sent to all principal secretaries of ministries within the public service reminding them of the contents of the Government General Orders A124 (e). Allen McFadden said: “we are raising a concern with principal secretaries within ministries and reminding them to follow the general orders when requesting for positions to be filled.”

According to McFadden, local candidates shall not normally be appointed to the Public Service on contract terms of service under General Order A.124(1)(b), unless in any particular case the necessity of the service so requires.
In such circumstances a local candidate shall not be eligible for gratuity.

McFadden explained that although it may seem minor, the terms of contract and temporary were vastly different. He said a person employed on contract enjoyed perks such as housing (where applicable), gratuity at the end of term of the contract as well as cellphone allowances (where applicable). The CSC executive secretary said going forward, the commission would not be approving requests from ministries for the employment of staff on a contract basis. “It must be stated that they must be hired as temporary staff.”

The most affected civil servants are cleaning personnel, accountants and clerical officers. Also, some are nurses who are mostly under contracts with non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Even experts who are engaged by government to provide their experience and expertise to the protégés they groom will be affected.

Also expected to be affected are civil servants who have reached the retirement age of 60 years but still kept within government employment due to their needed  expertise. It was revealed that these ‘pensioners’, who are still within the civil service are contracted for a certain period and within  the contracts crafted when they are engaged, all their perks including gratuity and housing are outlined.
He said the memorandum was issued to all ministries after an audit query which was raised by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The PAC questioned why government was hiring locals on a contract basis yet the general orders clearly stated that no locals were to be hired under such employment conditions.
He said there were cases where government was forced to hire staff on contract basis for a certain number of years due to certain expertise that the particular employee possesses.

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