Global civil service roundup: right to strike threatened in Canada and fees banned in Nigerian recruitment process
US: White House security official sacked over anonymous tweetsA national security official Jofi Joseph has been fired after he was discovered as the face behind the Twitter account which criticised government figures of the Obama administration.
Joseph was a director of nuclear non-proliferation, and was helping to negotiate nuclear issues with Iran. He has been sending personal insults using the Twitter handle @NatSecWonk for more than two years.
In his Twitter biography, which has been taken down, Joseph described himself as a "keen observer of the foreign policy and national security scene" who "unapologetically says what everyone else only thinks".
In one tweet, he said: "'Has shitty staff.' #ObamaInThreeWords."
Canada: proposed bill would curtail state employees' right to strikeThe federal government tabled a bill on 22 October that would give government the exclusive right to decide which services are considered 'essential'. If passed, this would limit civil servants' right to strike.
Treasury Board president Tony Clement defended the proposed legislation, saying that government needs power to modernise public services. He also said more disputes would be resolved through arbitration, which was "better for everybody."
Clement said: "Look, I know some of the union bosses are upset and they're going to light their hair on fire and say how horrible this is. But I actually think having an excellent public service is in the interest of public servants as well as for Canadians."
Nigeria: fees banned in civil service recruitment processOn 23 October the House of Representatives directed the boards of the Nigerian Prisons Service, the Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Immigration Service to stop collecting application fees in their recruitment programmes.
The prisons service has been asked to stop the practice immediately, and refund payments to those who have already paid fees.
Public outcry has prompted investigations into allegations of racketeering in recruitment to the federal civil service and inappropriate selection of applicants.
Greece: number of civil servants with forged degrees exaggeratedSuggestions that large numbers of civil servants would lose their jobs because they were using forged degrees while working in the public sector were misleading, administrative reform minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told MPs on October 22.
The comments were made in August by alternate interior minister Leonidas Grigorakos, who suggested that up to one in 10 civil servants had fake degrees.
The minister said that about 2,100 civil servants had been checked following allegations they had broken the code of conduct. Of these, 223 have been fired and a further 960 suspended pending the outcome of their hearings.
South Africa: public servants banned from doing business with stateCivil servants will no longer be allowed to conduct business with the government, under recommendations put forward by South Africa's public service minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
He said he was worried about conflicting interests when people who are employed by the state also do business with government. He said the move would allow civil servants to concentrate on their jobs without benefiting from the state.
The minister also called for those found guilty of corruption to be blacklisted from working for any government department. Officials under investigation for fraud have been known to resign and join another department to avoid reprisal.
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