KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) has illegally sent 208 employees on forced, fired some and refused to provide service privileges to others, Pajhwok Afghan News findings show
The Meshrano Jirga has referred Minister of Public Works Najibullah Yameen to the Attorney General Office over the illegal retirement and firing of employees and other anomalies.
But ministry officials insist the retirees are being paid pensions and benefits. Changes have been brought to the ministry as part of reforms, they argue.
208 retirees aged above 55:
A list from the Human Resource Department of the ministry shows 208 employees — aged 55 and above — have been retired.
Pajhwok has obtained from the Finance and Administrative Office copy of a letter that was sent to the Department of Road Maintenance and Supervision on April 23, 2021.
The letter reads based on guidance from the president, the Administrative Affairs Office has written: “Employees of the Ministry of Public Works who are over 55 years of age be retired.”
According to the first paragraph of Article 138 of the Afghanistan Labour Law, the mandatory retirement age
for employees is 65. Under the Article 4 of the Civil Service Personnel Regulations, no institution reserves the right to dismiss employees without a legal justification or a court decision.
Wadeer Safi, a legal expert, said regarding the presidential direction: “In case of punishing anyone, the president can take a decision after consultations with the Supreme Court on whether to retire him/her. Otherwise, the normal circumstances, he has no right to do so and that is against the law.”
The MoPW letter reads after the implementation of the president’s order, professional engineers will be appointed by a committee and they will be paid in line with the National Technical Assistance (NTA) salary scale in contractual; and part-time positions.
A source in the ministry revealed Minister Najibullah Yameen had the educated and professional staffers and replaced them with non-professional individuals who don’t have the required experience.”
The appointees are holing contract positions with high privileges. But such appointments are a violation of Clause 7 of Article 7 of the Civil Service Regulations.
The clause says that contract-based employees should not be appointed to civil service positions.
The source particularly mentioned the appointments of Arsalan Mujaddedi, head of the road reconstruction and maintenance department, Mohammad Noor Naeemi, design and planning chief, and Nader Shah Zazai, project management chief.
Without going into details, the source claimed although the minister forcibly retired the employees aged 55 or above, he hired some individuals as his advisors, who were age above 65 years. They have high salaries.
Pajhwok also received an application from a university student, asking the MoPW to appoint him to the Nangarhar Public Works Department. The has ordered the appointment of the student based on a contract.
Mohammad Yaseen, 57, one of the affected employees, blamed the minister for willfully retiring then in an attempt to hire his blue-eyed individuals.
“All actions of the minister are against the law. What should we do? The government doesn’t listen to us. The claim of paying pensions and benefits to the retirees is untrue,” he added.
Officials acknowledge employees who retire 10 years before the legal age of 65 will have to be paid pensions with privileges and benefits.
Alif Khan, another retiree, remarked: “We are happy to provide an opportunity for youth. But insult, non-consideration of services and no benefits are against the law.”
But Khalil-ur-Rahman Omid, spokesman for MoPW, said the ministry suggested the president order the retirement of the elderly employees and replace them with experienced people. The approved the suggestion, he added.
Pajhwok reminded Omid that some non-professional individuals had been hired in place of retirees, but he did not respond.
Mohammad Yousuf Ghaznawi, head of the Executive Board of Appointments in the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission (IARCSC), said under the law, employees aged 65 should be directed to retire. But the consent of employees was important in this regard, he stressed.
But Alif Khan, who is a year away from retirement, said none of the retired servants under the age of 65 were happy with the ministry decision and the claim of pensions with benefits was untrue.
Ghaznawi said: “My information about the Ministry of Public Work’s pension is that the ministry has asked the president to approve pensions, which means the retirees are being given the same benefits.”
Pajhwok asked IARCSC for information on this issue through the Access to Information Commission. The panel replied the mandatory retirement age was 65. It was against the law for employees to retire before attaining this age.
IARCS suggested the employees affected by MoPW’s decision should approach the Civil Service Employees Complaint Board.
Safi said there was no such thing under the law as a pension with benefits. The expert also questioned the legality of giving employees premature benefits.
Financial & Administrative Officers:
Some WhatsApp messages from MoPW leadership members show that Minister Najibullah Yameen has written to the Department of Road Maintenance and Supervision and the Department of Human Resources that all financial and administrative officers of all provinces should be fired and placed in a “waiting salary” status following the formation of 1400 solar year.
Under the article 20th of the Civil Service Personal Regulations, salary-waiting employees’ payment is performed as follow: 1- The salary-waiting process would be for six months if the employee’s service period is 1-10 years. 2- if the period of service is 10-15 years than nine months. 3- if the service period is more than 15 years, one year.
Yameen wrote in addition to their duties, the provincial directors were also responsible for the duties of finance and administrative managers, until new “supportive general managers” are appointed.
However, Abdullah Hemayat, former acting director of Laghman Public Works Department, wrote in response to the minister’s message that no letter had been sent to the province in this regard.
He asked the minister for necessary instructions, but the minister replied the department had been informed once through WhatsApp.
Pajhwok also received a copy of the list in which the finance and administrative officers of the public works
departments in 29 provinces have been sacked and directed for salary-waiting status.
Sources wrote the list has been prepared with approval of oversight department of decrees, orders, guidelines and commitments of Administrative Affairs Office and IARCSC under the article 72nd of the labor law and in accordance with the 1st paragraph of article 19th of Civil Service Personal Regulations.
The first paragraph of article 72nd of the labor law says in case of organizational retrenchment, decreasing the number of workers or long cessation of work, the worker is in paid suspension condition.
However, the ministry fired the 29 individuals and reserved in a state of salary-waiting as the ministry reported the appointment of new “supportive general managers” meaning that more posts would be created and the number of employees would not be reduced.
A source in MoPW also said that the ministry had similar posts for the sacked officials and if their original posts were reduced, they would have to be reassigned.
According to the source claim, the ministry has used the new structure as a pretext to remove these people and instead creating the supportive posts to appoint people of their choice from “some members of the Wolesi Jirga.”
Regarding the issue of the 29 individuals, a complaint lodged by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on May 6, 2020 and the ministry had sought information from the MoPW.
One month later, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs sent a follow-up letter to the MoPW seeking information on the matter.
Pajhwok asked spokesman for MoPW, Omid, about the letters, but without giving a clear answer, he said the ministry had changed it 30 years’ structure and therefore lacked “expertise” in the new structure but people were hired effectively.
He said with the new structure, the posts of finance and administration departments of the province had been abolished in provinces and the affairs would be carried out by directors and others so the ministry could get better results from its work and spend the ordinary budget effectively.
He added: “Changes in the structure have been made according to the modern era, technology and road construction standards and requirements, the job descriptions of some posts would also change in line with the law, and those posts should be announced in order to appoint new people.”
Ghaznawi said: “If the 29 posts in the new structure are abolished, then the employees of these posts will remain in a paid condition, which means if they have the same number of posts within the specified period, these individuals will be reassigned in the posts without competition.”
Wadeer Safi, a legal expert, said the ministry had cautiously removed some staff but created new posts instead. “What does it mean to eliminate posts and create new ones”.
He said it seemed to be “lying” and could not tell the truth about why these posts were eliminated. Safi added that such kinds of acts were aimed at corruption which should be eradicated but the current system was unable to do that.
Dismissal of employees:
On March 28, 2021, the MoPW wrote in a guideline letter that for the purpose of reforms and basic needs all scale posts of highways would be re-advertised and in accordance with the 72nd article of labor law and 19th clause of Civil Service Personnel Regulation, all employees are dismissed and a committee will replace them.
The ministry said it had fired 168 highway workers over corruption, incompetence and lack of organization following complaints from the transport communities, the public and drivers.
Article 72nd of the labor law says in case of organizational retrenchment, decreasing the number of workers or long cessation of work, the worker is in paid suspension condition.
Based on article 19th of Civil Service Personnel Regulations, civil servants may remain in paid condition in the following cases:
First:
- In case their posts have been abolished or reduced
- In case their work has been suspended for more than six months
- In case the institution is dissolved
- In case the annual evaluation of employees in not satisfactory
- In case he/she has applied to the department one month after the completion of the job in the appointed or selected posts
- In case their suspension period has ended according the labor law.
- In case of one month after military service
- In case he/she has obtained the consent of the institution for education inside or outside the country and return after the completion of the education period.
Second:
In case of similar vacancies, the salary-waited employees who have previously been recruited through open competition and have met certain criteria of annual evaluation in their previous job are required to re-employ them without competition.
There is the issue of waiting conditions with the mentioned employees in these two articles, but on the other hand, the highway scale employees have been fired without remaining in such condition while under the article 4th of the Civil Service Personnel Regulations, no administration reserves the right to dismiss employees without a legal license or court decision.
The fate of 400 people remains unknown:
In a letter to the MoPW dated January 5, 2021, the Civil Service Complaint Board wrote that 400 employees of the ministry’s third to sixth grade had complained that their fate remained unknown and in paid in condition. It said the ministry should share the reasons for the problem with the board.
The MolSA also wrote to MoPW on June 30, that about 99 employees of MoPW had complained and sought information.
A spokesman for MoPW said that an assessment by the ministry’s leadership had revealed that work at the ministry was proceeding inefficiently due to low capacity. He added that was why the ministry decided to place some employees on salary waiting status.
Pajhwok also received a voice message from Tajuddin Tanveer, director of human resources at the MoPW, he said he had talked to four of the minister’s advisers and deputies about dismissals, changes and other issues of ministry staff in accordance with the law.
“Unless the structure and standards are changed, these things are not right. In short, they say we are doing these things to make people protest that they have power, they are doing right and wrong,” he said.
We shared the issue with Tanvir via WhatsApp but he did not respond.
Minister refuse to pay transfer benefits to some employees:
Documents show that the minister transferred Rabi Khan, Nizamuddin and Amanullah to Sar-i-Pul, Uruzgan and Faryab, the financial and administrative heads of the public works departments of Nangarhar, Herat and Paktia.
Mohammad Yaqubi, director of design at the ministry, was transferred to Farah and Nusrat Agha, Zalmai, Mohammad Sabir Ahmadzai and Sibghatullah, directors of public works in Laghman, Balkh, Kandahar and Kabul respectively to Badghis, Kandahar, Nangarhar and Khost without travel cost and privileges.
Sayed Abdullah Hameed, former director of Herat public works, said he was transferred to Zabul on April 8 and after two months he was again transferred to Laghman following directions from the minister.
He said he had not received the four-month benefits that should be paid under the article 75 of Labor Law.
Another ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been sent from Kabul to Badghis for about five months, but no travel, transportation or pocket expenses had been paid.
Article 75 of the Labor law says when the employee is sent on local and foreign missions, transferred, seconded, or sent to another place, he/she would be entitled to fares and travel allowances, including per diem and accommodation.
MoPH spokesman did not respond in this regard.
Meshrano Jirga introduced minister of public works to AGO:
In a letter the Meshrano Jirga complaints commission dated May 29 this year says that the MoPW has transferred 99 employees, put 200 in paid in condition and fired 60 highway workers. The issue of staff retirement and illegal appointments has been asked several times but he did not approach and therefore he was introduced to AGO.
Pajhwok shared the issue with AGO spokesman Jamshid Rasouli about two weeks ago, but has not yet responded, nor has spokesman of MoPW.
This report has been produced by Pajhwok and financially supported by UNDP and Denmark.
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