Officials' performance in public service should be included when
making an appraisal of their work, says a commentary in the
Beijing News. An excerpt follows:
At a recent international forum on public service, experts
suggested that reform is urgently needed to include public service
performance in measuring local government work.
The traditional mechanism measuring the work of officials and
local governments is centered on the gross domestic product (GDP).
But when local governments focus on economic growth, they neglect
public services.
In a market economy, the functions of the government are to
guide economic development, supervise the market, manage society
and serve the public. But such a position of the government can be
realized only through a proper arrangement.
One of the arrangements needed is to include public service
performance in the mechanism measuring the working accomplishments
of officials.
Officials' performance in public services could be divided into
two categories: providing basic social security and ensuring fair
welfare coverage.
Administrators should try to supply pension plans, medical care
and compulsory education to the public. Meanwhile, the provision of
welfare should be fair in different groups as well as in different
regions.
The latter part of the problem is more urgent. The difference in
social welfare is remarkable between rural and urban populations,
between developed and less-developed regions and among social
groups.
To bridge the gap, the central government and the provincial
governments should offer special subsidies to the central and
western parts of China, where the economy is underdeveloped, to
ensure adequate social welfare for local populations.
Another solution would be for citizens to get access to social
welfare in the places they currently live instead of where they
register as permanent residents. That will facilitate the
government in offering services as well as the public enjoying
them.
(China Daily October 31, 2006)