Not Easy To Be A Civil Servant

Most people thought that to be a civil servant is just shaking legs. It's far from the truth. The civil servant is a trained professional. And his main reponsibility is to carry out his duties well. In other words, able to deliver the goods. His political master must appreciate that a civil servant is assumed to have given his best advice on any given administrative matter unless proven otherwise.

Sometimes politician want a government officer to do a particular assignment which is unethical. Just so his political agenda can be achieved. This will put the officer concerned in a very difficult situation. Unless the officer has been politicised. Meaning that he owes his appointment to his present post through political interference. In such a case, the officer will become pliable because he was indebted to the politician for his position.

When that happened, the civil servant is no longer serving the interest of the public at large but those of the politician. In that sense, he can be said to have lost his impartiality. Service rendered to the people would be done not on fairness but on political consideration. This will cause even the ordinary person to notice that what was not the right thing to do, was done. For example in the solving of problems, implementation of projects etc..

But most times, politician and civil servant cooperate for the common good. Implementing works that will bring the maximum benefit to the constituents/public generally. There is no conflict of interest. In incident where there is differences, then the politician must listen to the civil servant's views pertaining to the issue concerned. As mentioned above, since the officer is a professional, he is therefore competent to make recommendations or options as to the viability of the project.

The politician can, after hearing such justifications propose to the administrator to come up with an alternative plan to resolve the matter. And if it is still not in the public interest to do so. Then the politician must explain to the interested parties the reasons accordingly. Instead of overruling the recommendations of the officer.

The constituency would therefore be better served by politician who make use of the expertise and knowledge of civil servant when performing his duty as a state legislator or as parliamentarian.