GOVERNMENT has initiated the process of retiring 3 384
youth officers from the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation as part
of the first phase of implementing civil service reforms.
In a statement yesterday, Public Service Commission
secretary Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe said the retirement of the youth
officers was part of a number of measures that Government is implementing and
these include right sizing, reassignment and restructuring of the civil
service.
“In the first phase of implementing Civil Service Reforms,
Government has since initiated the process of retiring 3 384 Youth Officers in
the Ministry of Youth Sport, Arts and Recreation and directing their energies
to activities that have the potential to greatly improve their livelihoods.
The main criterion being used to retire the Youth Officers
is based on whether the members possess the requisite qualifications to be
engaged as public officers,” said Ambassador Wutawunashe.
He said the affected youth officers will receive their full
retirement benefits in line with Public Service statutes and these will be
communicated to the affected individuals.
“In order to enable the affected members to remain
productive outside the Public Service, information on empowerment opportunities
will be made available to those interested, particularly in view of the prompt
disbursement of their benefits upon retirement,” said Ambassador Wutawunashe.
He urged those interested in some of the Government
empowerment options available: namely provision of skills at vocational
training centres, access to finance, business mentorship and incubation service
to register with the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation District
offices.
Presenting the 2019 Budget Statement last month, Finance
and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said the retirement of
youth officers was in line Government’s restructuring exercise.
He said at its 38th meeting of December 5 last year,
Cabinet re-affirmed its decision to terminate employment contracts of the youth
officers as previously resolved.
“Drawing from this resolution and guidance from the Civil
Service Commission, Treasury proceeded to mobilise in its first instance, $52
million in December 2017 towards three months cash-in-lieu of retirement
notices and in the second instance $17,7 million on February 16, 2018, towards
pension benefits for the officers,” said Prof Ncube.
He said next year, civil servants would go through a
biometric registration programme in an effort to weed out ghost workers.
The Minister said the system would ensure that every person
being paid by Government for services rendered is properly accounted for.
“Previous civil service audits undertaken by Government in
2011 and 2015 point to possible existence of ghost workers in the service, who
are contributing to the burgeoning public service wage bill which accounts for
over 90 percent of total revenues.
“Clearly, this goes against the thrust of re-orienting
budget expenditures towards growth enhancing and poverty reducing developmental
programmes and projects through rationalisation of the public service wage
bill,” said Prof Ncube.
The registration, he added, would be rigorous and would
involve capturing data on letters of appointment, academic and professional
qualifications, national identification documents, employment code numbers and
biometric data.
Prof Ncube said biometric data would involve capturing
one’s unique physical attributes such as finger prints, DNA, iris and retina
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