The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service (Cuepacs) has called on all politicians to set aside their differences and disputes to help the government and civil servants in preventing the spread of Covid-19 as well as revive the country’s economy.
Cuepacs president Adnan Mat said politicians should sit down and discuss the best way to help the people during this trying time.
“If the country continues to spiral into endless political disputes, efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and restore the country’s economy cannot be implemented,” he said in a statement today.
In fact, Adnan is worried that if this situation continues, civil servants, especially frontline staff, could become demotivated, as they would feel they are being made to work relentlessly without support from all parties.
It is surprising this civil servant has found time to return from the front, where he is battling Covid, to make this statement that civil servants want politicians to stop ‘politicking’. The message being that a fractious minority government should be allowed to continue to attempt to govern without being challenged.
However, who really thinks he would have criticised his bosses if ministers had not licensed (and encouraged) him to direct his remarks not at them but at their opponents who threaten to throw them out of office?
In fact, what this civil servant is doing is exactly what he is criticising others for, which is getting involved in politics at this testing time. And while that is the role of politicians it is strictly not the role of civil servants, so he is the worse offender.
The best way to deal with this pandemic is to play by the rules of the democratic process, which is to allow Parliament to rally behind the leadership that can command majority support. This matter is the remit of politicians to decide not civil servants who should continue to follow the instructions they receive so long as those instructions are legal and honest (a big if at the moment).
These employees should get back to fighting Covid and not indulge in joining the political disputes on behalf of their bosses while pretending that they are not.