KABUL (Pajhwok): Hundreds of people have been recruited against merit and law in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and as a result millions of dollars were wasted and the institution has failed to finalise its human resource structure for ongoing solar year so far, a report from the Presidential Palace’s Administrative Affairs Office said on Thursday.
The Assistant Monitoring and Protection Office of the Administrative Affairs Office recently issued a report titled 18th Report of Decisions of the Administrative Affairs Board.
The report was organized following a decree from President Ashraf Ghani in which delegation members had been tasked to evaluate the activities of Social Affairs and Labour Ministry during last year and ongoing solar year.
It is worth mentioning that the report has been approved by the general board of the Administrative Affairs and handed over to the officials of the Ministry of Labour as well.
Illegal appointments, non-announcement of some vacancies, creation of parallel units, group expulsion of some employees, signing of contracts with individuals instead of successful people, simultaneous implementation of project salaries for official employees, non-use of orphans and injured children, lack of database for children, provision of low quality and unhealthy food for orphanages, non-coverage of nomadic children, misappropriation of project money, including illegal work and problems in the ministry are some of the negative points mentioned in the report
The report is presented in seven sections; “Human Resources and Formation”, “Distribution of Licenses to Foreigners”, “Monitoring and Evaluation”, “Finance and Procurement”, “Schools and Orphanages”, “Development of Technical and Vocational Skills” and “Social Security”.
Recommendations have been also conveyed to the Presidential Palace for approval.
After the inspection was completed, some suggestions in the report were conveyed to the President regarding dismissal of some officials and referral of a number of officials to the Atorney General Office.
Scores illegally appointed while hundred posts are vacant:
According to the investigation, 100 permanent employees and 19 contract-based employees have been appointed without completing the due process.
The report further added 834 employees were appointed on short term basis, 152 on super scale basis to non-professional and non-specialized posts.
This comes as 545 positions are vacant and haven’t been announced. Eight key ministry posts are filled by the kith and kin of those previously worked on these posts while Directorate of Children Protection Network is headed by an acting official from the past three years.
Recommendations: It is recommended that officials appointed against the law should be fired while individuals, including head of the ministry’s human resource department should be referred to the Attorney General Office. Vacant positions shall be announced for open completion in cooperation with civil services.
Referring to the Children Protection Network Directorate, it is recommended that head of this department who has serving for the past three year as acting official should be immediately fired and referred to the AGO over corruption charges.
Millions of Afghanis, US dollars embezzled:
Evaluation of the team shows that the ministry has purchased goods worth 38 million afghanis in 1399 fiscal year. Equipment and tools worth 7.3 million were purchased for conference hall of the ministry but the quality and quantity of the materials are in violation of the contract.
According to the team, 670,000 afghanis had been taken from the cashier of National Skill Development Program in 1399 fiscal year but the money was never returned.
The team also expressed concern about embezzlement of $10 million of MoU signed with South Korea and lack of progress in the relevant project.
The report said that National Skill Development Program director received salary in violation of the salaries payment bill as well as received $5,000 as personal expenses, also in violation of law.
Suggestions: The team called purchase of required materials worth 38 million afghanis in retail in violation of the procurement law and suggested the people involved in the issue should be brought to justice.
The team said that spending of 7.3 million afghanis on National Skill Development Program for the equipment of conference hall of the ministry should be reviewed in terms of quality and quantity and processed according to the law.
About non-return of 670,000 afghanis from National Skill Development Program, the team said that the money should be returned within a month and director of National Skill Development Program should be fined 12 percent of the amount for non-payment of the money on time.
The report also suggested that head of Afghan-Korea Vocational Training Center should be fired and referred to judicial organs for the embezzlement of $10 million of MoU between Afghanistan and South Korea.
Monopolization of health insurance of foreign workers:
The report said that foreign workers were directed to Blassum, Yusra and City hospitals for taking their health insurance, something which is in violation of the law.
The source said that work documents of foreign workers in 2020 were incomplete.
The team suggested that labor and social affairs minister should provide explanation about monopolization of health insurance for foreign workers.
It said that the person in-charge of processing documents of foreign workers should be fired due to unprofessional management of the section and problems in documents of the workers.
The report about lack of a procedure for observation of foreign workers said that the procedure should be prepared within two months and then referred to the Presidential Palace. The source said that the computerization part of licensing section of foreign workers had no capacity to provide accurate reporting and suggested reforms in coordination with National Information and Statistics Authority (NSIA) and IT ministry.
Inactiveness of electronic attendance, poor quality food for nursery and lack of programs for supporting children were other problems the report mentioned.
Pajhwok tried to contact the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on the matter, but spokesperson of the ministry refused to comment.
Pajhwok also tried to contact the Presidential Palace about its possible steps after the team’s report, but no one in the palace provided information on the regard.
Nh/Mds/ma
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