KUWAIT CITY, Nov 14: MPs Khalil Abul, Ahmed Lari, Hassan Shams, Faisal Al-Kandari and Abdullah Fehad have submitted a bill on adding a chapter to Civil Service Law No. 15/1979 in order to regulate the appointment of senior officials. The bill states that senior officials include undersecretaries, assistant undersecretaries, other leadership posts and their equivalent in public institutions and subsidiaries.

The additional chapter starts with Article 34, which mandates the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to form a seven-member committee chaired by the CSC chairperson. The committee shall nominate employees for senior positions and evaluate their qualifications. Members of the committee must have vast experience and competence in administration and currently occupying positions with a job degree of at least assistant undersecretary. The seven members shall represent the Supreme Council for Planning, Legal Advice and Legislation Department, CSC, Government Performance Follow-up Agency and the private sector, in addition to two academic experts – administration and organizational science professors. The Council of Ministers shall issue a decision on appointing the committee members for a term of four years renewable once.

The committee shall hold a meeting once a month or more if necessary. The committee takes decisions based on the voting results. In case the votes are equal, the decision on which the chairman votes shall prevail.

Article 35: The committee shall specify the regulations for appointing senior officials, criteria for choosing the best among the nominees, and the appointment and interviews procedures; submit re-ports on the nominees; and lay down regulations for evaluating the performance of the appointed senior officials that the concerned ministers will use as basis for determining if the performance is in line with the work program of the government or not.

Article 36: Every ministry and public institution is required to submit an annual report on vacant leadership positions, expected number of vacancies in the next six months, job description and appointment conditions to the CSC. The commission will then publish job advertisements on its official website for some weeks and once in two daily newspapers. Job advertisements should be posted in the headquarters of the ministry or public institution by the Personnel Department. In all cases, a senior position should not be vacant for more than three months without the publication of a job advertisement.

Article 37: Applicants must be among the staff of the concerned institution, highly qualified, meet all the conditions, with 15 years experience -- the last five years of which should be in the same institution, and the annual performance rating in the last five years should not be lower than ‘very good’. If none of the applicants from the institution are qualified or no one among them applies for the post, those from other institutions can apply provided they meet all the conditions, in addition to continuous career development.

Article 38: The committee shall adopt the following evaluation criteria: ■ career development and achievements; ■ qualifications including the capability to make decisions and speak foreign languages, along with computer skills; ■ interview to cover personal aspects including the leadership qualities, appearance and innovation (interview points should not be more than 10 percent of the full score); ■ vision on the implementation of the government’s development plan.

Article 39: Considering the aforementioned conditions, the committee has the authority to nominate five applicants who will be ranked according to their scores. The names of these applicants should be referred to the concerned minister who will choose three based on their scores. These three applicants will be submitted to the Council for Ministers to choose one of them.

Article 40: The term for occupying a senior position is four years renewable once. In all cases, a senior official should not occupy the present position or higher for more than 12 years -- either continuously or intermittently.

Article 41: The senior official must submit an annual report, including his achievements, to the Appointment Committee and the concerned minister, who will refer the report to the Council of Ministers. Then, the senior official’s term will either be renewed or terminated, or he will be asked to resign or be referred for retirement.

Article 42: The pension and indemnity of the senior official shall be calculated as per the Public Institution for Social Security Law.

Article 43: Senior officials at the Amiri Diwan, Crown Prince Diwan and Prime Minister Diwan are exempted. The Council of Ministers shall issue the executive regulations within three months after ratifying the bill.

Meanwhile, the Kuwait National Assembly convenes Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the Amiri speech delivered at the inauguration of the parliament and requests to lift immunity of MPs Obaid Al-Mutairi and Hamed Al-Bathali. The parliament members will also discuss election of the members of the Arab Parliament in addition to filling vacant seats of some of the National Assembly’s committees. The lawmakers will be discussing requests to form committees to investigate distribution of industrial lots, food insecurity and obstacles facing local agricultural products, and retirees. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff and Agencies