Civil servants surplus to requirements: survey 

The number of civil servants employed in many state departments is far in excess of requirements, resulting in a heavy burden on the state in terms of expenditure on salaries, supporting allowances and related costs, a survey has found.
Many departments and divisions were found to have recruited too many officials and employed numbers that far exceeded their needs, according to an official from the Governance Development Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which involved the survey.
The ministry has submitted a report on the findings of the survey, which took place in eight ministries, to the government and is awaiting guidance on the matter.
The survey was carried out under Executive Order No. 03 issued by Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith last year.
The order required all state departments to merge subordinate offices or divisions whose scope of work overlapped, as part of a move to downsize the state organisational structure.
State organisations were also requested to allocate personnel so as to balance staff needs among departments that were over-staffed and those that needed more staff.
The survey also found that some departments lacked sufficient personnel.
Overall, the number of civil servants totals about 184,000, equal to 2.8 percent of the population, which is excessive, according to the official, who asked not to be named.
This figure excludes soldiers, police officers, contracted officials and employees of state enterprises.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Somdy Duangdy told a recent meeting that the existing state organisational structure was too large and placed a heavy and unnecessary burden on state expenditure. The government has taken steps to streamline the organisation of its bureaucracy.
The current unwieldy structure involving large departments meant that an unnecessary number of civil servants had been recruited.
“The 2.8 percent ratio of civil servants to the general population is high compared to many other countries,” Mr Somdy told the meeting, where he also disseminated the resolution of the Party Central Committee on measures to overcome economic and financial issues.
“Cambodia has just over 1,000 tax officials, but we have 3,000, which is more than double their number. But they [Cambodia] collect a lot more revenue.”
Faced with this situation, the government has taken steps to reduce the number of civil servants.
This year, the government announced it will recruit only 1,500 new civil servants, a drop of 50 percent compared to the 3,000 hired the year before.
Director General of the Civil Servant Management Department, Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Souvanny Lattanavong, said this year’s civil servant quota was much smaller than the number of officials who were retiring.
Almost 4,000 officials retired in 2018, Mr Souvanny told Vientiane Times yesterday. Reduced recruitment but a larger retirement figure would mean the government was employing fewer civil servants.
So far, the government has not yet set a clear target on what number or proportion it hopes to reduce civil servants to.
It is expected that the government will mull over a plan with a clear target after reviewing the findings of the survey.
The official from the Governance Development Department said the survey had just been completed in eight ministries and a further survey would be carried out in the remaining state departments.
Since taking office in 2016, the current government led by Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has merged various commissions and committees with existing ministries whose scope of work is similar, in order to downsize state bureaucracy.
These include the Lao National Committee for Special Economic Zones, previously under the Prime Minister’s Office, which is now part of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The National Leading Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Eradication (NLCRDPE), previously under the Prime Minister’s Office, is now part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The National Commission for Drug Control and Supervision is now under the Ministry of Public Security. The National Committee for Business Improvement, previously under the Prime Minister’s Office, is now under the Ministry of Finance.

By Souksakhone Vaenkeo
(Latest Update February 6, 2019)