Check-and-balance necessary in civil service: Hamsa

PUTRAJAYA: Check-and-balance and regular monitoring is a must in the civil service specifically in areas susceptible to abuse of power and misappropriation, said Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa.
He said that surprise audits must also be conducted so that wastage of public funds could be curbed to ensure the image of the civil service is always protected.
In addition, he said efforts to build character, enhance knowledge and financial management skills among civil servants should also be conducted on a continuous basis.
"In the challenging economic scenario now, integrated and controlled financial management is very crucial so that national development plans can be implemented according to schedule.
"As such, every officer must monitor the financial management of their respective organisations to ensure they are handled in an orderly manner, efficiently and effectively," he said at the Financial Management Excellence Awards Ceremony Based on the Accountability Index for Fiscal Year 2015, here today.
In the meantime, Ali stressed that prudent spending must be a practice and a culture in the civil service due to the uncertainty of commodity prices especially petroleum, oil palm and rubber and the depreciation of the ringgit.
"With this, value for money must be instilled so that any spending brings an optimum outcome commensurative with the amount of money spent.
Ali added that the value management approach must be stressed upon because via the resulting savings and efficient financial management, more projects could be conducted for the benefit of the people.
On the excellence awards, he said the performance at the ministerial level had dropped slightly due to the National Audit Department raising the standard from four to five stars for fiscal year 2015.
He said only 16 or 64% of the 24 ministries garnered the excellent rating compared to 20 (83%) in 2014.
At department and agency levels, Ali said 55% had achieved the five-star rating while only one federal statutory body evaluated had scored excellent rating, he said.
"As such, the ministries, departments and agencies must upgrade their financial management in order to achieve five star status in the future," he said.
At the event, Ali also handed over 130,000 reading materials to 184 institutions and agencies under the programme Take A Break ... Read!@Putrajaya 2016: A Book Alive (TABR #abookalive).
The reading materials received was a result of a campaign jointly organised by the Prime Minister's Office and the Prime Minister's Department, which were contributed by civil servants, ministries, departments, government agencies, individuals and publishing companies.
A statement, which was distributed in conjunction with the ceremony, said the programme was aimed at encouraging reading among Malaysians other than showing the concerned attitude of civil servants in contributing reading materials, whether new or used, to the needy. — Bernama