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Civil Service Reform

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Liberia is the oldest independent country on the continent of Africa. It was founded first in 1822 by the American Colonization society for the sole purpose of resettling free slaves from North America to Africa. Before the declaration of independence, Liberia was a colony of the ACS and was governed by an agent appointed by the American Colonization Society and later left from a colony to a Commonwealth form of government where the governors were also appointed and assembly members were elected by the province. Liberia is situated on the west coast of Africa and is bounded on the west by the Republic of Sierra Leone, on the east by the Republic of Ivory Cost, on the north by the Republic of Guinea and on the South by the Atlantic Ocean. Liberia declared her independence on July 26, 1847. The form of government is republican with a unitary state. It has three branches of government namely, the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. Liberia economy is made up of the formal and informal sectors. The informal sector consists of petty traders whose activities are not included in the GDP and the formal sector which include both the public and private sectors. With a current population of 3.4M, the government of Liberia is the largest employer in the formal sector. The Civil Service Agency is responsible for the placement, recruitment, hiring and management of all government employees. Due to the two decades of civil war the entire system broke down and the fundamental basis of placement in government offices were ignored. Placements were made on affiliation with warring factions, political affilations, patronage and other means outside of the merit system and the civil service standing order. Because of these unmeritorious moods in the civil service of Liberia; productivity were low, inefficiency and incompetency were high among government employees. This situation saw government spending more on personnel and getting nothing out as return in term of efficiency and quality delivery of service. There was no value for money. After the 2005 elections of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the need to reform the Liberian Civil Service was high on the agenda by the government and its international partner and was an integral part of the poverty reduction strategy. This exercise that was widely known as the Down Sizing and Right Sizing of civil servants was met with diverse views and resistant. The primary goal of the reform was for” Smaller Government and Better Service” This paper seeks to critically examine whether or not the Civil Service Reform Process of Post Conflict Liberia, has brought smaller government and better service to the Liberian people. It will also look at the challenges and success in a post conflict context .The paper will also give a contexture definition of Civil Service Reform in keeping with the objective of the Liberian civil service reform strategy.

Annotated Bibliography
1.Nigro Lloyd, Nigro FELIX AND Kellough, Edward J. The New Public Personnel Administration Sixth edition, USA: WADSWORTH CHANGE LEARNING 2007
This book provides the insight into the evolution of public personnel in the United States of America and modern method of civil service procedures and its reform in the USA.
2.”MDGD-Civil Service Reform Paper”http://www.Un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/Un/unpan001183.pdf
This site unveils through the paper the fundamental concepts involve in civil service reform. It frames reform issues as they relate to structure, program, performance and process.
3. Dia, Mamadou.Governance Approach to Civil Service Reform in Sub Saharan Africa. WASHINGTON DC, WORLD BANK Technical Paper Number 225, Africa Technical Department Series 1993.
This paper discussed the issue of poor governance that can culminate into an inefficient and patronage civil service that are more political than technical.
4.”Public Sector Reforms Management in Africa” http//www.Unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/document/UNECA/UNPAN014953.pdf
This site via the paper shows how African countries can use experiences from other region in their effort to improve the content and approach to public sector reform.
5. “Smaller Government Better Service” Monrovia 2008. Civil Service Reform Strategy(2008-2011) Republic of Liberia
This states in clear terms the reform strategy of the public sector in the Republic of Liberia. It provides the causes that led to broken public sector in Liberia and stated the government vision and mission on the revitalization of the public sector in Liberia.
6. Constitution of the Republic of Liberia 1986
The provision of article 89 that created the civil service commission as autonomy.
7.Tenente, Malaquias. Civil Service Reform in Angola. UNDP 2003

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