The public service and its regulations

Abstract

Every form of organisation must have regulations to function. The staff that ran such an organisation follow these regulations. The efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation can be gauged from such regulations, since unless the staff is given clear rules, chaos prevail. One can go on and state that proper regulations have to be balanced with proper delineation of duty since otherwise, if every matter has to be referred to the superior for direction or approval, time is wasted and efficiency is reduced. Linking with proper regulations and delineation of duty is the matter of proper tools to do the required job. It is absurd to have the first two without the latter, since without proper tools, the end result will take longer and therefore cost more to be achieved, thus resulting in loss of efficiency. If what has been stated above is applied to the Public Service, we find that its two main forms of regulations that are common to all its organisations leave much to be desired. In my Dissertation, after examining the functions of Administration, I examined the two central regulations, namely Estacode, and the Financial Administration and Audit Act, 1962, together with its regulations. The element of centralisation that I found is such that it is hampering the proper function of administration. This is so because in many cases, the top brass at the central agencies are but rubber stamps to what management in the respective organisations recommends. Furthermore, such centralisation is forcing officers to bend rules so that there is some form of efficiency. This indicate that accountability is lacking.