Critical appraisal of civil service systems in developing countries : the case of morocco

1 '

' 1

.

^'

l-.-~

..

~~~-· ^{' ,}

UNITf NATIONS

IDEP jErr'/R/241 0.

.. @

AFRICAN INSTh 'TE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT . ND PLANNING

·,

DAK AR

1

t

..

l•

' .. ~ • j_,

' '

.

_;~

,.

J!

t .., •

i ' .

'fi,• Il .•

• • >

~

1 t.

i· ^~

1 }·

^{• 1 .,f' ' <}

)"'.t

..

..

.... ^lt

••

CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF CIVIL SERVICE

.. <1.

. ,

^W.,.~

"';1:· ·

^ç_ SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

~l .. ';, '."!(":r·~. ·

~;t< .

'

.... ' : . ;.; ...,.,

.

^"

tJi,. • ' ' ' t •

~ fJ ~-;:

-~~ ... ::·. ' .

• d ' . .. •

' . ..,. ; • J .• ' ~·-..

·.. " .• ^{., ...}

.. , ' . ! .: .

·fi·

•••

The Case of Morocco

by

MOHAMED SHA WKY AHMED SHA 1-lKY

,,

....

\

•

1·

.

^'

1

1

•

y

.~

1"

lit;

. ...

^...

., e

Il

' ...

. •

• •••

."

• .

_•

)l •

...

it

..

^"•

. •

"

· fltr

•

^t

•. "'I- .. ;(~

~

..

•

"

:V

¹

~ le

...

.1"

~r.J _,~l

•

•

•

....

1

• ·~ 1

.

' _'

' ^~

~~-₁

~~

.. . ..

l·. "'t

~

'

... ...

...

_,li,

. bi"''

..

t

.

• ••

..

..

~

'

. ..

....

.>1 ... .,.

. ...

••

·.

. ,

.·

...

MAR CH, 1

9

7 2. _ . ., •. ~;

~

.

INTRODUCTION

For more than a decade of experience with technical assistance by the Division for public Administration of the United Nations Department of Economie and Social Affairs provides a convincing evidence of the basic necessity for establishing a sound merit system or for improving existing personnel structures to serve the oontinuing and expanding services or new ones by governments.

In recent years it has been found that it is very important to use technical assistance and experts in the field of public administration to assist governments in drafting or amending civil service laws, codes, rules and regulations, or in improving person- nel administration in a wide variety of 1rays in order to improve economie and social conditions which takes first importance especial- ly in developing countries (Ex. Arab and African countries).

It is very important to mention here that preliminary investi- gation revealed that there was no panacea, no one pattern or system is applicable to all countries; but there seemed to be validity in presenting a survey of representative systems, the laws or codes governing them and a comprehensive inventory of those basic elements of administration that might be useful to governments of developing countries.

It is important also to mention that the literature already available on this subject bas focused primarily on descriptions and analysis of the laws and systems or personnel practices in the in- dustrialized countries of the western world (developed countries) in order to provide a general guide to newly independant countries for the development of indegenous systems, with the aim of improving and developing them.

• -

^~-

CHAPTER I

The Role of the Civil Service Systems in Developing Countries In recent years it bas been found that most developing oountries become more interested in civil service systems due to:-

(1) Th~ ~lation between the civil service system and the social and economie development of the country which takes first importance especially in developing countries.

(2) The increasing number of employees in the government and the public sector.

(3) The importance of dealing with all their personnel matters in a unified and standard way.

(4) The importance of training, the employees, raising their

efficiency and organizing their work in order to guarantee the utilization of the financial and human resources in the best way. (5) Its role in the administration reform, because present day civil

service systems such as selection, recruitment, promotion, train- ing, etc •••• play an important role in creating the efficient civil servant, and also in insuring a better and more efficient service for the people.

Therefore civil service systems in developing countries take. now new concepts and become more comprehensive and more complicated, be- aides dealing with traditional concepts such as selection and re-

• ^{- 3 -}

cruitment of employees, setting regulations for their promotion, training and discipline etc ••••

Now civil service systems deal with new concepts such as procedures taken to reform and improve public organisations in arder to keep up with technological and economie development to face the increasing needs of the state.

On the other band, they include in most cases manpower pl&nning

~o face future needs.

As a result of all this, it bas been found that it is very im- portant to distinguish between personnel administration and public administration for employees in government and the public sector.

The former deals with recruitment, training, promotion, bonuses, discipline, retirement, ••• etc. whilé the latter deals witt maupower planning in general, establishing the policies and regulations of recruitment, training and promotion within the framework of the financial and economie policies of the state.

Naturally, it is important to coordinate these two aspects in arder to work together in an integrated manner.

It is very important to mention that eaCh of these two kinds of administration bas special features in the developing countries, and in several cases it is necessary to take the initiative and make radi- cal reforms in arder to establish suitable homogenous civil service systems in very difficult economie and social conditions.

•

• - 4-

Also one should notice that most of the developing countries

are now entering a transitional phase which bas certain characteristics, - auch as the adoption of rapid solutions under the pressure of this

period, followed by the abandonment of the solutions tben seeking for new ones, wbich leads finally to an unstable situation. It is well known also tbat most of the developing countries suffering from short- ages of tbe available financial resources are interested now in using their limited funds allocated to civil service, in a manner wbicb guarantee the best results with minimum costs. This explain their growing interest in administration having as the basic aim the attain- ment of their goals at minimum oost (witb optimum results) using tbeir limited available resources.

Finally, it can be said that the goal of all the developing coun- tries wbicb is to use botb personnel administration and public

administration efficiently, can be attained tbrougb proper organiza- tion and management of tbeir civil service system.

Recently the need to coordinate the civil service systems, bas been the main reason for most of the developing countries' desire to establish a central civil service system.

However experience bas shown that most of these countries bave not succeeded to a great extent because of:

1 - Prevailing economie, social, political conditions.

2 - Factors related to the performance of the system.

Tbese factors characterize any civil service system in developing countries:

a - The inadequacy of the civil service policies adopted.

b The extemporiazation of rules and regulations.

c - The inaccurate and vague legal interpretations of civil service laws and procedures.

..

A

- 5-

The first factor (The inadequacy of the civil service policiee adopted) :-

The main abject in many developing countries is to use their civil service system for the benefit of certain classes or

politicians, more th~n it is to establish a good system. The best exarnple of this is the outpouring of regulations inadequately ~nd

hurriedly prepared in order to obtain sorne personal benefits. In spite of all the efforts which have been made to overcorne these defects, very little has been achieved due to:

1 - The adaptation of the civil service systems of developGd countries (dominant countries) without any modification.

2 - Inefficiency of persans who are responsible for setting up the laws and regulations for civil service system.

B The second factor (The extemporization of rules and regulation) It should be noticed that for sorne reasons or ether some of the developing countries find thernselves obliged to set up too rapidly, the lmŒ and regulations w~üch govern the ir system

without proper study which is very important, this leads to rules and regulations being written without taking into consideration the real needs of the country. Other developing countries have obtained the sirnilar results due to the lack of experience in this field.

C The third factor (The inaccurate and vague legal interpretation of civil service la1-1S and procedures).

Alrnost all developing countries suffer from lack of accuracy and vagueness in their civil service system due to:

..

- 6 -

1 Rudimentary scientific knowledge.

2 - The desire to fill up all the gaps and deficiencies that might lead to special benefits or faveurs for certain group of civil servants.

It is very important to know that the increase of these gaps leads to the need for more complicated rules and regulations, also numerous instructions and explanations, which in turn to greater obs~urity

and vagueness in the civil service system.

Ultimately it will be "difficult to understand the system and many more defects will follow due to the confusion arising from the appli.cation of the system.

Therefire in order to overcome all these factors which handicap the adaptation of the civil service systems in developing countries one should:

1 - Set up laws and rules of the system based on accurate scienti- fic studies.

2 - Coordinate and standardize these rules and regulations in order to assure justice and equal opportunity for employees.

3 - Guarantee the efficiency and the effectiveness of the personnel ad. ini• tration department.

4 - Co.ordinate_ personnel ud.mi.nistration and publi.c administra- tion in order to work in integrated manner.

5 - Set up procedures necessary to attain the above goals and controlling their adaptation.

7 -

CHAPTER TWO

The Pattern of Civil Service in the Developed Countries (France)

The existing provision cf the French civil service system was first formulated in 1945-1946 und took the form of law No.46-2294 of 10 October, 1946. This law included principles in order to apply them generally to the civil service and to control the main career incidents of all the persons to whom the law applied.

Then this law was replaced by an ordinance No, 59-244 of

4 February 1959, which contains a number of articles which authorize the issue of public administration regulations to deal in detail with specifie career incidents such as annual assassment, promotion and discipline.

The new provisions were designed not to alter the contents of the 1946 but to adjust the position to those articles of the new constitu- tion of 1958 which deal with the division of authority between the legislature and the executive. Altbough the civil service code after 1958 did not differ in its basic provisions from that of 1946, the constitutional changes of 1958 did alter the background against which the civil service worked.

The French constitution prior to 1958 gave more weight of authority to the legislature whose members were able to influence executive pro- cesses considerably, and this create a position where political in- tervention in personnel decisions could be extensive, the constitu- tion of 195~ redressed any inbalnnce and led to reduction of the legislature's and legislators capacity to intervene in civil service matters.

The two main features of the French civil service system ane:~

..

' - 8 -

First: The lower degree of control of recruitment and career

incidents, and the greater of departmental freedom in such matters.

Second: The use of staff representations in reference to outside commissions to limit dapartmental hierarchical control.

This means that in the French system the constitutional princi- pal of the personal responsibility of each minister for the discharge of the function of his ministry bad formerly left each department

subject to budgetary reservations, free to deal with its own officials, measures taken in, and after 1945 modified this freedom but imposed only a degree of control coordination, they include the creation of a oivil service directorate controlled by the Prime Minister or his de le gate, and latter reti tled "the Gener&l Directorate of the Administration and the Civil Service" its functions were.

1 • To supervise the application of the general regulations and to ensure the conformity of special regulations with them.

2 To prepare the main lines of civil service policy.

3 - To compile reference material and general statistics con- cerning the civil service.

4 -

To examine proposals for improving the organization of the public service and for setting the principles governing remuneration and social security~ In the French system the Budget Directorate is involved in civil service control through its responsibility for presenting to the legislature in the finance act, details of new or reclassified positions, and for estimating the impact of actions involving or likely to involve expenditure, also the council of state is involved in civil service control, apart from being an administrative court, it is also the governments' adviser on the form, legality and appropriatness of new regulations and decrees and on the interpretation of unclear and incomplete ones.

- 9 -

Also there is a higher council of the civil service follow the Prime Minister or his delegate, and consista of equal number of representation of the state and of the staff trade unions. Al- though it is a place of recourse in connection with certain indivi- dual career incidents involving promotion and discipline procedures, it is considered as an organisation designed to act as arbiter

between the state and its personnel.

As a result of all tbat we find legal fraoowork in an administra- tive unit witb the minister in charge of that unit.

Finally, in the French civil service system the hierarchical control of career incidents is limited not by the interpretation of a control or external agency, but by the association of the staff vith tbe process.

In dealing with the structure of the French civil service system, one can say that the civil servants in France are organized in a civil service, designed to provide a career for those attracted to it. Posts are grouped together, by a process similar to post classification or grading according to the nature of the work alloted to them. A group of similar posts then becomes available to a group of civil servants who constitute a service. A service is usually restricted to an administrative units, consequently the service as a wbole is divided vertically into departmental services as well as into functional services. Tbere are services common to more than one unit, it bas been found difficult to form inter- ministerial services on an extensive scale, even where growing specialization in experience and duties does not forbid it. The services in a ministry or administrative unit are instituted, their establishment settled and they are classed into one of four catego- ries or classes by the special regulations of the unit, the classessre defined as A,B,C and D in decreasing order of hierarchical importance. Entering the service offers a career normally confined to that service

10 -

and that class, sometimes involving grade promotion by selection for the efficient movement from a service in one class to one in a higher class is an incident of an exceptional career, usually but not inveriably involving not promotion by selection, but a procedure similar to a new recruitment procedure.

In France the idea of a single official head of a ministry (a permanent secretary) is less developed thun in other countries (England for example) c··~~i. many minis tries consists of a number of directorates, each headeQ by a director general, we have to mention here that the grade struc·cure bas been recently changed now all grades will not be superimposed or accessible without a change of duties, movement into the higbest grade will involve actual occupation of a post specified as involving responsibilities, supervisory, research or investigatory greater than ordinary.

Selection and recr~i tme~t system concer~ng t~A. F'"lle ction and re-_

crui tm_ent __ system in the French ci vil sermce :::_:.~ -.;D, the eligibili ty conditions are as follows:

1 -No person may be appointed to a public position unless he is of French nationality.

2 Of good moral character

3 In possession of his civil rights.

4 -

Ras fulfilled his legal obligations as regards service in armed forceo.

5 - He is physically fit for the service to which appointment is sought and certified free from active tuberculosis, cancerous or nervous diseases.

- 11 -

The position of nationals of areas formerly French administered on French protected is somewhat obscure but may stabilize on a

reciprocal understanding to employ non-nationals only contractually.

When the ordinance of 1959 was announced, the constitution envi- saged one citizenship and one nationality for the French community.

Tbat concept bas been overtaken by events.

The principle of equal access of the citizens to the service applies with the exception of preference given to veterans and to victims of the war. This preference bas led to criticism oo the ground that the inadequacy of the qualifications and sometimes the advanced age of the beneficiaries are harmful to the general

standard of the service, but it is a matter where purely administra- tion considerations are likely to be subordinated to others.

In the French system of selection and recruitment, the actual possession of a certificats, diploma or degree of the educational level required was not insisted on as a condition of eligibility and it is not so required in the ordinance, and this is based on the theory that success in the competitive examination itself im- parts proof of the required educational competence. Later iD some recruitment exercises, actual possession of an educational qualifica- tion bas been insisted on.

In the French system, legislation requires tbat admission be contigent on the outcome of a competitive examination for appoint- ments to classes A and B and also for C ~nd D unless special

regulations prescribe otherwise. In practice appointments to class D posts is usually by selection appointment must by law be in the order of merit secured at the competitive examination, and the latter provision is common in the legal texts of the countries which bad been influenced by the French civil service system, and

..

•

- 12 -

is an important and logical development of the attempts to take recruitment to the civil service out of the domain of patronage.

In the French system, the normal procedure for a unit to estimate its probable needs is to hold a competitive examination in wbich candidates are placed in order of merit and to appoint in that order. There are two seperate competitions.

1. The open one, in wbicb eitber possessing educational

qualifications or able to pass an examination at tbat level may compete.

2. The limited one, in whicb civil servants in lower classes who bave seniority may compete.

The disadvantages of this system and the need to unify re- cruitment, led to the creation of the National Scbool of Administra- tion 1935-1936. It was designed to "cbaracter¹¹ througb interviews. Lnterviews have a place in selection p.rocedures in France, but they tend to be more in the nature of oral examinations on a tecbnical or academie theme, devoted to testing academie or tecbnical qualifica- . tions. Finally, permanent appointment is usually made subject to a ,_. period of probation by the e.ppropriate special regulations for

lower grade staff this means a period of ••on the job" training for middle grade staff the period of p.robation, formerly a formality for the reasons tbat supervisors lacked the will and time to train,

preferring to attempt to exact full quotas of work, is now attr~cting

more attention and is being more usefully employed tbrougb a develop- ment of a formal training courses and schools of instructions.

..

•

- 13 -

Promotion system

In the French system promotion may be divided into two categories the first: involving an increase in pay without an increase in respon- sibilities, the second involving an increase in pay accompanied by an increase in responsibilities, advance along an incremental scale is in the first category, promotion in class is in the second category. Pro- motion in grade is in the second category where grading is based on differences in the nature of duties, but this system now has largely disappeared in France.

The French system sought to use incremental advancement more

purposefully to encourage efficicncy. The French code made incremental advance depend on the period spent in tho lower step and on the annual assessment of efficiency (notation) secured thore. The mannar in which seniority and assessment were to be taken into account is specified in regulations and these require that special regulations fix the average and the minimum time to be spent at each step. The French promotion

system which based on diffcrential rates of incremental advancement differs basically from other systems (English system for example), tho French

practice involves every incremental step with the hazards, uncertainties and psychological strains associated with selection and more frcqucntly than in any ether promotion system it assumes the perfectibility bath of assessments and of selection and gave a great attention to thes~ two aspects but few would accept that thore is no place for errer dospite the requircment of consultation over bath mettcrs with administrative committces on which the staff elect representatives, and a system of appeals against hierarchie assessment. Reccntly, according to great number of defects which has boen discovered in this system a decree of 1962 modifies the system for class C and D.

•

- 14 -

Concerning advancement in grade selection is required by law, sorne- times linked with ability tests for technical groups, and to be from a

grade to the next suporior grade. It depends on the existence of a vacancy, but a conflict by small number of officials sharing the c0recr ~~y ~rise

bctween providing a career and grading based on the nnture of duties. The process of selection is ~"inly hnndled departmentally. The only civil servants who may be promoted are those entered in n promotion rostor and

· 1

in order of entry that rostcr which is preferred annually by the adminis- trative tmit involvcd and is submitted to an adininstrative committco sitting as a promotion board. Those committees, found also in most French- derive systems. This committee considers tho claims of ~ll civil sorv~nts in the area of promotion and suggests to tho ministor such modifications of the rostor as it considers desirable.

Finally, dealing with promotion from class to c.lass it is availablo to incumbent civil servants through the intornal oXGminations mentioned in connoction with recruitment, and this is lcss a promotion than a procedure

simil~r to new recruitment certain special regulations also provide thqt officials who have complcted fivo to ten ycars may secure class-to-class promotion through a qualifying oxami~•tion or by cntry on a promotion ros- ter to a percentago uslli~lly 10 per cent of vancancies in the superior class and this is an exception to the ;Jrinciples that the classes in ·question are recruited solely by competition.

•

-15-

Salary & wage system

The main purpose of the French salary and wage system is to adjust salaries to the oost of living without distorting internal differences.

According to this system an index number or scale of numbers re- presenting an increment~l scale, is alloted for each post or class of posts. This nurnber or scale recognizes the hierarchie rating of the post and is in fact an expression of a farm of a post classification and it changes only when there is a substantial change in the nature of the duties attached tofue post, then the salary of the post is a basic sum multiplied by the post index number. Adjustments to salary are made by adjusting the basic sum.

The m:::.ximum index originally fixed t..ras 800 for a dire0tor and the minimum 100 for a newly recruited labourer The indices were originally intended to corresopnd to "nc.t" salary (After deduction of taxation and pension contrib~tions).

A net scale of 100 to 800 required a gross scale of 100 to 1163 at the same timo the general law forbide the gran~ of allowances rT

additions to pay ether than for reasons restrictively defined in the law itself.

As a result of using net indices the civil servants will be in- sulatedagainst changes in direct taxation applicable to the population

generally.

In year

1955

variations of salc..ries had shrunk from 100 to 1163 to 100 to 731 and tho pay pyramid had bc~n levelled to this extent, not as part of ~ deliberate intcnt but by inàdvertence, this process was accompanied by the inevitable pressures toœcure compensation

..

- 16 -

through allowances, which the ministry of finance and the minister in charge of the civil service wcre unable to restr~in, and since this year practice ^lli~ve change and the base of pay has been adjusted, and in recent years this h-:s occured almost ycarly and in lino wi th amendments of salc,ry levels in priv~te sector.

In the ^~rench system remuneration includcs:

1) Proper salary.

2) An area differentiai.

3) A family pay supplement.

4) Bonuses or allowances such as overtime or hazard whose allowancc is specifically authorized by the general law.

In April 1965 new indices werc introduced, the main features of the new adjustment arc that the indices of posts at lower levels have been reduced and those of posts at highcr levels increased, thus going sorne way to reverse the tendency for tho pay pyramid to become flat.

The history of salary and wago policy in France emphaeizes the dis- t orting results of troating ^p~y as a purely budgetary matter and the need for a strong central ^{est~blishment} office able to contest such troatment.

After illustrating the mein features of the French salary and wage system, one can say that tho index system is in fact an elabor~te system of post clo.ssificat ion linkod 1.vi th a basic sa lary, and to kcop i t as a satisfactory working system it has to carry out the basic conditions.

- 17 -

1) The classification must be maintained in the absence to qu~te

the words of a decree "of a thorough change in the duties of the post.

2) The basis must be adjusted promptly when living cost change.

And due to the fact, that both of these two conditions are difficult to carry out, there is constant pressure to amend indices, particularly of the lower paid posta.

The French civil servants share with other citizens the benefit of family allowances.

In addition there are special benefits comprising the family pay supplement, which is in fact a supplementary family allowance, the rate of which varies with basic salary and the number of chargeable child.

- 18 -

Chapter Three

The Pattern of civil service system in Morooco Survey of the Moroccan system compared

with the French one.

After illustrating the main features of the French civil service system in the last chapter.

Now the researcher will handle the Moroccan civil service system as a derived system from the French one. During the protectorate period the Moroccan civil service system was consisted of a number of texts but after the independence these texts were codified in a law dealing with the general status of the civil service datad

24

February

1958 ,

and this law followed clossly the pattern of the French law that of

1946,

It applied to permanent employees excluding the magistracy and the armed forces and it envisaged special regulations for the services of administrative units. In practice, ministers controlled their own staff subject to the provisions of the general regulations carrying out the recruitment, promotion and disciplainary procedures with a check provided by the association representatives and this pattern followed

'1 alse the French practio. In the post there was a ministry charged .wi th general supervision of the civil service in arder to see that the pro- visions of the general regulations were followed and also charged with the usual functions of advising the government in respect of civil ser- vice matters generally the civil .service directorate was responsible for doing this and it was part of the Secretariat General of the govern- ment, but now it becomes a separ~te Ministry of the ciyil service and of Administration Reform.

Since the new constitution was introduced in

1 962

much attention has been given to civil service matters and changes have been recently introduced with a centralizing tendency.

• - 19 -

According to the practice in Moroccr, the staff of regional g0ver-- nors, the staff of local bodies are officials of the Ministry of the Interior Jr of interministerial cadres controlled by the Civil Service Ministry, and as a result of that, the staff of the Ministry "•f the Interior bad a preponderant importance in a service nominally depart- mentalized. In 1961 the Ministry of the Civil Service was renewed the Ministry of the Civil Service and of Administration Reform, and the minister's functions were reconstructed and restated in a form stronger than in 19)8.

According to the new law the duties of the minister of the civil service are:

1) To elaborate government policy in administrative matters. 2) T~ prepare details of the reforms he considers necessary.

3) To supervise the application of policy and of reforms.

4) To co-ordinate and control the work of personnel policy.

5) To be consulted on all proposals to create, reclassify or abolish posts.

The Ministry of .Civil service includes a central inspeatorate which bas the duty ~o inspection but only on the invitation and with

the concurrence of the ministry involved.

The Ministry of the Civil Service also controls the Moroccan School of Administration (Recently they changed its name to the Na- tional School of Public 4dministration). The main abject ' f this school is to prepare the administrative class and consequently con- trols recruitment to the administrative.

-20 -

In the Morocaan case the practice of the power of supervision has led to-some concentration of the available resources of the Ministry of the civil service on the correction of individunl cases at a riak of ^negl~ct the essential duties of planning the future development and modifying the current regulaüons ^~f the civil service.

Dealing with the structure of the Moroccan civil servàe we find that it had been influenced by the French civil ssrvice and follows the French practice in its main lines.

The staff of an administrative unit which is subject to the same recrui tment and has expectation of similar careers fo.rm a service. The special regulations of the unit speoi:fy the class of the service, its division into grades, the number of incremental steps in a grade and so on. For example the corps of administrators in the Ministry ~f the Interior is divided into two services, one comprising assistant admini- strators, the other comprising administrators and principal administra- tors. The classification of the service is by reference to the index system in connection with pay saales like the French system and the posts of principal administrators are filled tDrough promotion by selec- tion from administrators who have reached the seventh (out of ten) in- cremental stage at the level of administrator or by selection from out- aide. There is a system of job assessment linked to the Moroccan civil service system, thus the assistant administrators fill posts in the Ministry of the Interior as well as post of chiefs of districts in the field organization and assistants to governors, the senior service fills senior posts in the Ministry and also senior field posts such as gover- nors and secretary general of provinces.

•

- 21 -

The Morocc.an sele<;l,tion <:..nd r,ecuri tment system.

Dealing with the Moroccan selection and recruitment system one can notice that it is also followed the French system. The general conditions of eligibility laid down by law provide that no person can be appointed to a public position unless:

1 ) he bas a Moroccan nationality 2) of good moral character

3) in possession of his civil rights

4) ^{he bas fulfilled his l}egal obligations as regards service in the armed forces

5) physically fit for the service to which appointment is sought and certified free from certain diseases.

These conditions in fact are exactly the same conditions for enterirgthe French civil service, but dealing with the methods of entering the service, we find that the Moroccan legislation was less rigid on prescribing these mutbods than in the French system.

In practice recruitment is limited to Moroccan nationals of good and, subject to temporary provisions permitting recruitment by selec- tion, following success in an open competition or in a qualifying examination on completion of a training period and the competition may be conducted -separatel~Jby aèministrative unit or joint~ _for sevexal _ units, and there is no requirement that candidates must be appointed in the order of merit acquired in the entrance examination.

The Moroccan selection and recruitment system gives more free- dom to the appointing autborities, as an example assistant adminis- trators are recruited from people possessing a diploma of the Natio- nal School of Administration or an equivalent diploma, the former

•

•

_{22 -}

S8cured after a period of training conceived on the lines of the French sch•ol, they are normally appointed at the bottom of the lowest grade of the class but tbose possessing additional educational qualifications may be appointed direct to the second grade. The educational require- ments bave been relaxed for a period of three years, extending to 1966 as have ether entrance qualifications. Now appointees are on probation for a year and may thereafter be confirmed, removed, or reverted tl tbeir previous position by arder of the minister.

The Noroccan law gives the government the authority to appoint to certain superior posts without being subject to the usual limitations of age, examination and status, and recent changes give an example of the effects of the political and constitutional contezt on personnel processes. Morocco, like France and many African countries bas a field or a district organization of local representatives of the central govern- ment whicb includes the governors the prefects, the caids, and they re- present "positions of authorityr(like senior posts in the district organi- zation in Englisb system~

All tbese positions were formerly open to political appointees, but recently this bas been changed and special regulations prescribe tbat

3/5

of the posts of governor and

4/5

of other positions of autbo- rity sball be filled by promotion from among serving civil servants, and this contrasts indicate to what extent the personnel practices de- pend on the political context.

Concerning the Moroccan School of Administration wbich bas been established in 1948 (The National School of Public Administration as it is called now).

- 23 -

Graduates of this school ~re recruited directly to the posts in class A of all administrative units. (Like France), and in practice recruitment from other sources₉ particularly of those holding a degree in law bas been common, and adQission to this school is by competition between the holders of the school-leaving certificate and the persans who pass a special examination. Also a seperate competition exists, at the level of the school-leaving certificate in which civil servants with three years seniority may compete.

It has been found that the production of the Moroccan educational system bas not been sufficient to meet the real needs of the servic6 , at all levels, this bas led to relaxation of conditions of recruitrnent

and promotion, and therefore the work of the ministry of the civil service is to plan for the future and to give greet attention to regu- larize the actions of the post.

•

- 24 -

The Moroccan Promotion System

The Moroccan promotion system also follow the French pattern in its main lines, it sought to use incremental advancement more purposely to encourage efficiency. In the Moroccan system promotion by incre- ment depends on seniority b5side s~tisfactory evaluation and ~ts pace is variable.

Promotion in grade or class depends only on selection and this process is mainly carried out departmentally, the only civil servants who may be promoted other than the specir.l class of senior posi tians left to the government discretion and other than the class to class movement through internal competitive examinations, are thoss entered in a promotion roster nnd in arder of entry that roster. This roster is prepared annually by the Ddministrative unit involved and is sub- mitted to an administrative committee sitting as a promotion board (both management and employees are œepresented).

There is no provision in .the law providing recourse from a per- sistent ignoring of the committee's advice to a higher council, such as occurs in France. According to these provisions, conditions gover- ning promotions are laid dmm in special regulations for the adminis- trative unit concerned, and these special regulations prescribe selec- tion throughout as the basis for promotion. In the Noroccan system incrementai advance is not uniform, but is based on seniority combined with th0 annual assessment (like the French system).

There is a minimum period (24 months) in each stage, but promo- tion is automatic after (48 months) at a stage, unless there is a disciplinery withholding as an example promotion from assistant admi- nistrator to administrator depends on the existence of a vacancy.

•

•

- 25 -

In the Moroccan system promotion is not necessarily to the lowest level of the incremental scale ~ccording to overlapping which is exis- ting in pay scales.

Selection for posts of principal administrator such as governors, prefects---etc. are governed by special provisions, recognizing the importance of these posts.

Concerning incremental advance (promotion) in·the Moroccan promo- tion system, i t depends on annual reports like the French p'rac ti ce, a numerical asssssment of defined qu~lities followed by a general eva- luation of professional capacity.

This means that incremental advancement depends on both seniority and assessment.

The important common fcatures between all the countries which bad been influenced by the French civil service system are:

1) The association of staff representatives with management in committees with statutori1y provided advosory functions in assessment and promotion.

2) The attempt to use ass~ssment to vary upward and downward the pace of incremental advance.

•

•

- 26 -

The Moroccan salary and wages system

Salaries in Morocco are influenced by both budgetary considerati-.ns, the general trend of wages in the private sector, and the growing capacity of staff associations to assure comparability between the sec tors .•

During the period of prote~torate pay ecales in Morocco w~s aligned with those in the metropolitan are~s, with an addition of 331/3 per cent, described as the ¹¹colonial third^11• This addition was initially inslituted for the benefit of the French employees, but later this addition was extended generally and thus lost its original charactèr of overseas or expatriation pay. Therefore s~laries (pay scales) was a burden on the budget, placed the civil servant in a position of privilege and was out of live i'l'ith remunerations obtaïoable in the private sector.

After the abolition of the protectorate remuneration was fixed in Morocco, pay scales were frozen at the level of 1st January 1956, and additional allowances were reduced from 33 to

25

per cent. As a re- sult of this action, the former privileges of civil servants were abolished, because of fixing or reducing salaries in an atmosphere of rising priees.

Concerning the pay scheme in Morocco it is similar to the French one, there is an index number for each incremental step of each grade of each class, this number is use~ as a multiplier of a basic sum to obtain the pay.

The Moroccan law makes no attempt to list permissible allowances and thereby limits them, but 2ccepts generally that they may be ac- corded either by legislation or regulations.

In France the general lawe lists permisaible allowances.

•

•

- 27 -

Chapter Four

Critiêal appraisal of the Moroccan system

Before dealing with this subject it is important to know that the general budget of 1971 was 4070 million. Last figures of the same year show us that:

1) The number of the civil servants is 155,298.

2) Their net salaries are about 10 million Dirham •.

3) Their total burden on the general budget is 1662 millions Dirham.

From these figures 'Ive can see that about quarter of the total budget expenditure is alloted to the civil service in Morocco.

This indicates the importance of this sector in the economy of Morocco and also reflects the effects of it in the social and econo- mie development of the country.

..

•

/

- 28 -

In France the general law lists permissible allowances.

The Moroccan government bas created a central organization with responsibility to supervise the operation of law which govern civil service and also to plan, but resources ·which are available to this organization are limited, therefore it could not carry out both of these functions. The government bas been supported tbe theory which is based on tbe ministerial responsibility for departmental action precludes ministerial surrender of staff responsibility. As a result there bas been less general acceptance of interministerial services which bas led to a degree of vertical structural fragmentation doee not match with the size of the civil service in Morocco but this pic- ture of staff tragmented into departmentally recruited and controlled services bas been modified by the development of the Moroccan School of Administrative science, which are considered the main channel of access to non-technical managerial posts.

In the French system classes were formerly divided into gr~des

to which posts were alloted on an assessment of the level of duties, later posts were divided into grades in a mathematically prescribed ratio, and inspi te of the pa.rtial abandonment to this system in France. It is still the actual position in Morocco.

Concertration on supervision bas led to little attention being available for civil service reform, and the degree of fragmentation of the service provided by law seems greater than is consistent with good personnel administration. According to the absence of a strong central personnel agency responsibility for determining the numbèr and classification of posts rcsts largely with the budgetary authori- ties.

..

•

- 29 -

The Ministry of the Treasury collect data on the manpower avail- able at any given time in various job categories in the civil service and it is responsible for making it available at any time.

Also it maintains records on employees who have either retired or resigned or who have been discharged and on deceased employees in order to be able to ascertain ^r~t any given time the actual number of job va- cancies. There is a relation between the Ministry of the Treasury, the Ministry of the Civil Service a~d the Ministry of the Planning, the nature of these relations are consultant in most cases, and it can be found in the time of recruitment of new employees or promotiog them, planning the future needs of each ministry, and in the field of control and inspection.

All new jobs must be approveJ by the Ministry of the Treasury be fore appointmen t can be ma·ie in order to verify the actual need for such positions to be added.

The Ministry of the Civil Service requests the opinion of the Ministry of the Treasury in all matters that concern national wealth or income and public expenditure. The decision of the Ministry of the Treasury in these matters is obligatory.

Morocco bas inherited from pre-independence time a high proportion of managerial posts which leads to unsatisfactory working methods and inadequate delegation. It bas also inherited a position where an un- acceptably .. high proportion of the ir re sources is J.ev:oted to staff but it is temporarily worked by the provision of staff as a form bilateral assistance, such assistance specially in the field of general adminis- tration is unlikely to continue indefinitely acceptable either to donors or recipients.

•

^{- 30 --}

The constitution lay down the rigbt of equal access to public office, but this may be subject to reservation of posts in favour of veterans of the armed and sscurity forces. Sucb reservation bas boen used extensively and may bave alverse effects on standards, and it

kee~ to the government the rigbt to appoint persans to specified bigrer posts (posts of confidence) regardless the conditions of age, qualification and metbod. Recruitment by competitive examinations bad also been relaxed, in recruitment to managerial classes, but this

is very dangsrous because sucb relaxion if not limited-to emergency conditions may undermine the merit system.

Promotion from a grade must be to and depends on a vacGn~J in the immediately superior grade. Grade to grade promotion is usually done in the unit from names placed on a promotion raster, this rester is prepared and approved Jepartmentally after consultation witb a committee on wbicb representatives of the staff of the department sit witb re- presentatives of the management. In France they recourse to ether authorities if the advice of the promotions committee is consistently ignored wbicb while retaining final dicision wi tb the minis ter r·;oulc.l make it difficult to ignore ad~ice but sucb recourse is not always available in Morocco. Tbere is a variation in the rate of the incre- mental advancement, this variation like promotion bassd on personal dossiers containing annual reports. Tberefore, the Moroccan govern- ment bave elaborate classifications for sucb reports. The benefit of using an index number in determining the salary is tbat it permits adjustment of salary to the oost of living, wi tbout destroying in~,n'­

nal parities by adjusting the brse witb cbanging priees.

- 31 -

Morocco followed a national policy regerding employment in the government, the essence of this policy is to recruit as many employees as possible within the real needs of the state (the actual number of civil servants now are

155, 298).

The Ministry of the civil service is responsible for achieving this.

It is responsible for setting up the civil service law and prac- tices, personnel administration, discipline, supervising the training of civil servants, keeping employees files (personnel records).

It is also in charge with organizing the methods of mark which means:

General study on all minister departments, following up and con- trol (daily) the work of the ministerial departments in arder to pre- vent any enterference between their work. Organizing the methods of communication between all ministries. Forming and keeping the emp1oyee¹s files in a proper way in order to be helpful in preparing the gennral plan of the state and in studies concerning the problem of developing the civil service in Morocco.

The civil service Ministry determines the qualifications for filling specifie vancies regards the:

Education-level, educatiGn-field of specialization₉ work experience, and personal chnracteristics.

Also it tnkes petrt in supervising the trEüning of the civil ser- vants (this work is mainly the responsibility of the Moroccan School of Administrative science). This means thnt if a ministry wants to send sorne civil servants for training inside or outside the country, it must take the approval of the Ministry of the civil service.

•

"

^{- 32 -}

The Administration reforms started at

1967

in Morocco. Its main aim was to unify all regulations concerning the civil service. Now there is a specialized department responsible for modifying the r~~­

sonnel law and regulations in order to keep up with social and tc~D­

nical development of the country. (Dicision de la législation) its functions are:

Explainine the laws, writting the regulations, and supervising their application.

The Ministry of the civil service bas a consultant relationships with the ministry of planning specially in preparing the five years plan which will be carried out starting

1973 .

Manpower planning is one of the functions of the Ministry of Planning, but the Ministry of the civil service supervises the execu-

tion of the subjects in the plan concerned the civil service. There is no available J.ata on manpower for the Ministry of the ' civil service. Most of these data cre available in the Ministry of the

Treasury. If the minister of the civil service needs any data concerning the civil servants, be should ask the ministry of the treesury, which bas cnrJ.s for all the civil serv?nts containing all the relevant in- formation.

The nature of the relaticn between the two ministries is an execu- tive relation, this means that all the decisions taken by the ministry of the treasury concerning the civil servants are to be considered and respected by the ministry of the civil service.

- 33 -

The researcher noticed that:

The civil service ministry does not collect data on the available jobs (vancant posts) in all cc.tegories of work in the government and public sector, it leaves this to the concerned ministries. As a result, it can not re-distrihute civil servants according to the reQl needs of the state.

Also it does not collect data on the numbers of unemployed in- cluding botb tbose really unemploye~ ~nd tbose ioing work r~ther tban in their own field inspite of the existing of this pbenomenon in large scale in the Moroccan civil service system.

Concerning the surplus of labour that exist in sorne fields and labour shortages in otber fields the researcher bad discovered tbat tbere is excess in the number of the civil servants ,io the lower grades (cadre) while there is a clear sbortage in the higher grades (technic:l cadre).

The Moroccan education and training policy does not match with the real needs of t he country because they do not take into account tbese labour surpluses and sbortages in directing tbeir programmes.

The Moroccan statistical department has been recently established, tberefore it bas no data on neither the civil service nor the civil servants. If it is requested to prepare cert?in data on civil service it recoursed to the Ministry of the treasury wbicb mentains all the civil servents records and files.

Also it bas no available data on the number of university groduates annually graduates from scicntific institutes and training centerE, comparing with the needs of the government.

- 3 4 -

The researcher discovered tha t there is nei ther records reo.dily available on future and present manpower needs of government by job category nor records of present and expected future manpowor surpluses in spscific job categories in both the ministry of the civil servi0e and the ministry of planning. As a result of this f~ct the government c&n not assign the manpower surplus thct existing to various government de- partments as shortages occur by eithçr temporary or permanent transfro- mation. This puts a strain and presents an obstacle on the development of the civil service system in Morocco.

In resp0ct to the problems of orgenization anl administr2tion th~t

take place between different ministries, tn§ Ministry of the civil ser- vice tries to put nn applicable unified solutions for most of all thess problems. A department has been estE,blish specially for J.enling wi th such problems ( organiza ti on and methods of "IHlrk department).

Sometimes the government holds and org~nizes seminars for senior civil service officials in arder to inprove their performance, but it does not benefit from tr~ined donsultants in dealing with sorne civil service aspects such as selection ~nd recruitment, tré'ining, efficient use of the limited financial, personnel and other resources ~vailaole

to the government services, st2ndr..rdization of civil service procedures and co-crdination between various ministries and departments concerned.

The Ministry of the civil service also does not determine the number of the civil servants that are in each department of the government, and the number actually required whether greater or less, ~lso it does not establish rules that government the incrense or decrease of that number according to the development of the work requirements in these departments, because each concerned ministry is responsible for setting up such rules.

. ...

- .35-

The Ministry of the treasury is responsible for controlling the total number of the civil servants in each service, each ministry and in the whole of the government, in orJer not to permit an excessive increase which might occur becuase of personal influence. It bas two departments, one c2.lled (service de l ¹ ordenancement mec::.nogro.phique) which keeps the budgets of the various ministries, supervises and con-

trols the number of employees in each ministry in arder not to exceed the numbers of the employees which are ùetermineJ in each budget. The second called (le central des engagements de depense) its function is to make sure that each ministry applies correctly the laws concerning the civil service.

The policy of the government is to hire automatic~lly all persons graduates from the Moroccan School of Administrative science (Now it is re-cc.lled The National · School for public Administration) which prepare the students to fill verious ~obs in the government. The Minie- try of the civil service determines the number of the students permitted to enter the school each year. ~ach student either bas a contract with a ministry or he is alreô.dy employed in a ministry, but he is studying in order to be promoted to a higher class.

Each ministry determines its own training programms to prov~de its civil servants with information and skills necessary for satisfactory job performance, it takes adv~ntage of all available local· resources besides receiving assist~nce from the United Nations Assistant Programme and from the ùeveloped. countries (France - USA) in order to devise and to staff the best training possible.