ABSTRACT
The
study appraised ways in which the 2008 Civil service Reform could lead to Small
Government and Better Service Delivery in Liberia. This became necessary
because of the collapsed of the merit-based system during the war that affected
service delivery which inadvertently brought in lack of competent and skill
workers into the Civil Service system;
hence the reason for the study.
The
survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study
was two government ministries in Monrovia with the population of 16,985; out of
which a sample size of 508 employees were randomly selected. The reliability
test of the questionnaire was 0.839 Cronbach’s Alpha (α).Questionnaire and oral
interview were instruments used for data collection. Out of the 508 copies of
questionnaire administered to the two sampled ministries, 492 were obtained and
analyzed. The data collected was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS) version twenty one (21).
Consequently, the study revealed that (74%) of the respondents of the sampled ministries were of the opinion that service delivery in Liberia is now better than prior to the
2008 Civil Service Reform. The study showed that 65.1% of the respondents were
of the view that the concept of Small Government is incrementally leading to
better Service Delivery in Liberia. It was again unearthed that the
reengineering of government ministerial structures has reduced bureaucratic
bottom necks and has also brought governance closer to the people. The research
excursion further ascertained that lack of “political will (71.0%), corruption (80.1%) nepotism (78.1%), mediocrity (74.2%), and lack
of sustainability (68.7%)
are critical factors that are militating against effective and efficient
service in Liberia.
The study therefore concluded that when
emphases are placed on the concept of Small Government, inevitably, service
delivery in Liberia will improve. From these findings, recommendations were
proposed: that the
gains so far identified in the sampled ministries be replicated to other
ministries that are yet to undergo the tenets (rightsizing,
restructuring, downsizing, and removal of ghost names) of Small Government, Better
Service. The study also proffered that government formulates regulatory laws
that will attract private sector to invest into dormant State Owned Enterprises
in order to absorb those affected by the processes of mergers, amalgamation, and reorganization of government
administrative structures. Equally, political will should emanate from top to
bottom, and as such should be derived from within those ministries.On
corruption, the study recommended that the Liberia Anti- Corruption Commission
(LACC) be given prosecutorial power where a special court is established to
swiftly adjudicate identified corruption cases.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Rebuilding
public administration becomes an urgent reform of government in nations like
Liberia recouping from civil war, insurrections, or outside military invasions.
Rebuilding a vibrant administration is at the crux of post-conflict
reconstruction (Rondinelli, 2006). The assertion offered by Rondinelli (2006),
is confirmed by the creation of the Governance Commission of Liberia in August
2003 amid the Accra Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA). One of the central
guidelines of Governance Commission is to advance reform, proficiency, and
transparency in the public sector of Liberia thereby suggesting rationalization
of institutional orders and structures; coordination, capacity building and
designed an appropriate merit-based system (GC, 2003).
Anazodo,
Okoye, and Emma (2012) affirmed that countries throughout the world are
presently in the corridor to construct a resilient civil service that will
adequately give the proficient and viable service delivery that reinforces
establishments and add to the adequacy and efficiencies of a nation's
developmental activities. Public sector reform of which civil service reform is
a subset is one of the critical elements that strengthens institutions and
contribute to the effectiveness and efficiencies of a country’s public sector
leading to developmental activities (Zazay, 2015). Kwaghga (2010) characterized
the civil service as a collection of men and ladies who utilized their
capacities on a non-political basis as ordered by the positions which they
occupy in the bureaucracy, fundamentally, they are charged to render basic
social services, and also plan and execute the approaches of the government.
Civil service as a body ought to be neutral in administering their assigned
obligations as far governance is concerned.
Civil
service reform is an activity that enhances the proficiency, efficiency,
refined skill, representativity and democratic character of a civil service,
which is premised on the enhancement of better public service delivery of
depended public goods and services, along these lines advancing accountability,
which is one of the elements of good governance (Rao, 2013). As indicated by
Repucci (2014) civil service reform is one of the most obstinate yet important
challenges for governments and their supporters today.
Mutahaba
and Kiragu (2002) asserted that the force that propelled the wave of Public
Sector Reform (PSR) in Africa, just like the case in other developing nations,
emerged out of the macroeconomic and financial reforms that were introduced and
supported by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Unlike
the first wave of reform that was instituted by the World bank and
International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was entrenched in the Structural
Adjustment Programs (SAPs), as was
asserted by Mutahaba and Kiragu
(2002,) in the case of Liberia, several
years of civil upheaval in Liberia decimated the agency and demolished the
merit instituted recruiting framework by
disregarding standards and methods of
employment thus recruiting unprofessional
individuals of different warring factions that exacerbated the civil decadence.
As the result of an unprofessional system, the civil service was evident by a
disorganized service delivery that negatively affected the full implementation
of policies and programs, consequently leading to inadequate service delivery
in Liberia (Nyemah, 2009).
This
predicament of the underserved and unqualified workers in the civil service as
indicated by Zazay (2015), led to an incompetent civil service that had a negative
influenced on service delivery in Liberia. The civil service was extremely
weakened and did not have professionals and the institutional systems expected
to accomplish the basic results for social improvement. In President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf's quest of restoring the Liberia Civil service from this
problem, the government of Liberia in June of 2008, implemented its civil
service reform strategy called the “Small government, Better services” that
consisted of five distinct orientations, namely: restructuring and rightsizing,
pay and pension reforms, develop leadership, gender equity in the service, and
improving service delivery (Nyemah, 2009.)
As
per Adegoroye (2006), civil service reform becomes a vital approach for
redesigning the institution for the attainment of their goals as a component of
a multi-sectorial to manage and propel good governance guaranteeing
maintainable democracy and speedy recovery. Zazay (2015) declared that the
underlying principle of such reform including the Liberia 2008 reform
interventions was, and has been, to enhance the adequacy and effectiveness of
civil service and to guarantee its execution, which is necessary to support
continual socio-economic growth. The main objective of these reform exercises,
as indicated by Zazay (2015), is to enhance the nature of service offered to
citizens and to improve their ability to carry out center government
capacities, which are basic to advance supported financial improvement. Omoyefa
(2008), posited that productivity, adequacy, and responsiveness of government
to the longing of its citizens must be gauged through the lenses of the public
sector reform.
In
spite of the gradual and systematic reforms, inclusive of restructuring and
rightsizing since June 2008, the ministries in Liberia are still faced with
immense challenges. To further validate
this statement, the Ministry of Health in its 2015-2025 policy paper captioned
“Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System in Liberia” expressed that the health service delivery
systems were already weak before the Ebola virus disease outbreak. Community
interventions and services were not well coordinated with many vertical efforts
ongoing ( the Republic of Liberia, Ministry of Health, 2015).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Civil
service reform, a worldwide phenomenon has been an extensive challenge to
almost all developing nations and war-torn government like Liberia around the
globe.
Reforms
are intended to enhancing the competence and efficacy of the civil service.
The 14 years of civil decadence caused the
Civil Service to go into a recession that ruined the entire merit-based system
by disregarding its fundamental standard procedures and recruiting unqualified
individuals based on the patronage and generosity of various armed groups that
exacerbated the civil conflict. This situation created an inefficient public
service, thereby adversely affecting performance and contributing to poor
service delivery in Liberia.
Apparently,
several years of these rigorous reform exercises that were meant at
re-invigorating the civil service, there seem to be strong traces of
ineffective and inefficient service delivery in Liberia. This is evidenced by
the poor quality of educational and health systems in Liberia. The President,
Ellen J. Sirleaf, in an interview with the Reuters on 7 August 2013, branded
the educational system a “mess”, which requires a complete overhaul.
Additionally, the 2015 Ebola menace that claimed the lives of approximately 184
health workers and 1000 men, women and children, could have been attributed to
the poor delivery of drugs and combating accessories that were needed to tackle
the killer disease.
It
is against this backdrop, that the researcher was poised, to have investigated
those factors that militated against better service delivery in Liberia, as was
proposed in the 2008 civil service reform captioned “small government, better
service”.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The
main objective of this study appraised ways in which the 2008 Civil Service
Reform will lead to Small Government, Better service in Liberia. The specific
objectives are to:
1. examine service delivery in Liberia prior to the 2008 Civil Service
reform ;
2. identify
the concept of “small government” on service delivery in Liberia;
3. assess
the re-engineering of governmentministerial structures in Liberia on service
delivery and
4. identify
factors that militated against effective
service delivery in Liberia.
1.4
Research Questions
The researcher questions are based on the stated
objectives below:
1. How
was service delivery engaged in Liberia prior to the 2008 Civil Service reform?
2. How has the concept of small government led to
better service delivery in Liberia?
3. In
what way has there-engineering of government ministerial structures enhancedservice
deliveryin Liberia?
1.5
Justification for the Study
Liberia,
a country struggling to build its broken infrastructures and institutions after
14 years of civil turmoil, agreed to a adopt a civil service reform policy that
should have led to the resuscitation of those various intuitions and
infrastructures that would have paved the way for efficient and effective
service delivery.
In 2008, the service reform policy kick
started as a vehicle through which those challenges of the post-war
reconstruction and robust service delivery could be addressed.
The
study brought to focus the link between civil service reform and service
delivery; this research adequately help readers, students, lecturers and future
leaders understand ways in which civil service reforms enhances service
delivery. The research adds to existing body of knowledge, because of sparse
literatures on civil service reform and service delivery in Liberia. Finding from this work would also aid,
promote and help policy makers to enact appropriate laws to governance in the
public sector in Liberia.
1.6
Scope of the Study
The researcher focused his study in
Montserrado County of Liberia; the reason for the selection of Montserrado is
that the county houses all those ministries, which were interrogated. The
researcher’s work considered two ministries (Finance & Development Planning
and Education) out of the 18 ministries, because these ministries were at the
core of the reform processes by restructuring, rightsizing, pension and pay
reform and human resources management; they are also very keen to the provision
of service delivery in the country.
The study concentrated on the
periods of 2010-2015; because the implementation of the reform was intensive
during those years under investigation.
1.7
Operational
Definition of Terms
Small
government: this term depicts the creation of a small but
compact government in which mandates and functions of ministries and agencies
are structurally configured to fuss, merge and cement agencies in order to
derive higher competencies, capability and capacity through the process of restructuring,
rightsizing, downsizing, redundancy and removal of ghost names.
Better
service: This concept illustrates the timely delivery of
basic services as a result of best practices established by government through
competent and motivated civil servantsin addressing public needs and
expectations.
Administrative Reform/Civil Service
Reform: The usage of this concept will equally connote same
meaning for civil service reform. Hence, Administrative reform and civil
service reform are used interchangeably to mean the intentional attempt by the
government to advance its capability to effectively and efficiently implementguiding
principle and ensure proper operation in the routine tasks.
Restructuring:
the concept in this study refers to the expansion of some government outlets
due to their mandates and functions, while in other cases the term suggests
some areas being deemed redundant that consequently leads to layoffs.
Rightsizing:
the
term in this study refers to the adjustment of the workforce to an appropriate
size in order to enhance productivity and effectiveness.
Downsizing:
connotesthe
laying off of personnel from a given government institution as a result of
institutional evaluation to retain skillful and competent workers which
subsequently leads to diminution in the functions of such institution.
1.8 Plan of Work
The researcher formulated a plan
that successfully led him through the study.
The study was carried out using both
primary and secondary source materials that assisted the researcher to solicit
pertinent data for the research.
The study commenced with the plan by
outlining the background to the study, statement of problem, objectives, and
research questions, justification for the study, the scope of the study
definition of key terms.
Chapter two which is the literature
review was used to validate most of the statements that were significant to the
study under consideration by providing references from authorities in this body
of knowledge. The researcher adopted the Bureaucratic theoretical framework for
the research. While chapter three drew in the methodology which considered the
research deign, Population of the Study, sample size,
etc. Chapter four captured data analysis
and discussion of findings of the study, andchapter five focused on conclusion
the study and provided recommendations from the researcher, and also for
further studies and contribution to knowledge.
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