Kali explains appointment process

By LUKE KAMA
PERSONNEL Management Secretary John Kali has explained the process in which merit-based appointments were made for provincial administrators.
Kali said there were two separate processes for appointments; one was for substantive appointments which was merit-based while the other was for acting appointments for up to three months.
“For substantive appointments, where there is a vacancy in the provincial administrator’s position, the Secretary for Department of Personnel Management (DPM) advertises the position and receives applications and profiles of all those applicants and then convenes a pre-screening committee meeting which is made up of deputy secretaries from all the central agencies.
“That pre-screening committee sits down and analyses all the candidates against the criteria and those criteria are about qualifications, skills and competencies, relevant work experiences, leadership qualities, management expertise and they tell whether a person is qualified with the skills and competencies to run the province.”
Kali said apart from the skills, experiences and qualifications, they also check with the Ombudsman Commission to make sure that people who have applied were free from any investigations by the commission.
“We also check with the police fraud squad to make sure that those candidates who have applied are free of any criminal records.
“And also we get reports from the doctors.
“So that’s what we call the merit-based appointment process so you are qualified based on your qualifications and your skills and competencies and also fit and proper in terms of your health and that you are not a criminal, or have allegations against you that are currently under investigation.”
Kali said once these were settled, there was also scoring that would apply to each of the criteria.
“And based on the score, we rank them, whoever scores the highest becomes number one and so forth until we get five names.
“So the pre-screening committee will submit five names to me, and then I submit those five names to the provincial government, in the case of provincial administrator.
“The provincial executive council (PEC) members look through those five candidates and come back and recommend one candidate who they feel is the best.
“That candidate is taken up to the Cabinet by the Minister for Public Service.
“Then Cabinet will either accept that candidate from PEC and advise the Head of State to appoint him or they can reject that person nominated by the PEC and in that case, I have to advertise the position again.
“So that’s the substantive appointment process.”
He said in the case of acting appointments, where there was a vacancy, for example when the provincial administrator was travelling overseas for more than 10 days or taking any leave of absence that is taking more than 10 days, or was suspended from office, then the Secretary for DPM and the governor would consult each other so Secretary would identify three names from within the administration concerned.