Parliamentary Service Commission Disregards Human Resource Policy

The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) fails to adhere to existing Human Resource Policy as they recruited staff without advertising the positions.
This was captured in the recently published audit report noting that the requirement was not met in 2022 as salaries totaling SLE1,913,138.79 were paid to 42 staff without evidence of recruitment.
Referencing the Parliamentary Service Commission Human Resource Policy, the Audit noted that the HR Policy requires that vacancies from Grade 7 and above should be advertised internally and externally to attract the best possible candidates for the position and encourage open competition.
The report furthered that such recruitment should only be made after through needs assessment has been done for the position, and the authority to recruit is sought.
“Vacancies for positions below the above-mentioned levels may be advertised first internally, and if no suitable candidate is found, external candidates will be invited to apply,” the report stated.
That there was no evidence of the recruitment procedures followed, such as needs assessments, advertisement for the vacant positions, application letters, evidence of interviews conducted, attendance register of panelist and applicants, and selection report.
The report recommended that the Acting Director of Human Resources should submit the relevant documentary evidence in support of the findings.
“We note your comments on the findings regarding the non-compliance with recruitment processes. However, we wish to advise that in a meeting held by the PSC in February 2022, the following resolutions were taken: the seven volunteer staff be employed on permanent basis with the Parliamentary Service Commission; the Clerk of Parliament use head-hunting to replace staff within the grades of 2-6 that have resigned/retired/terminated from the Service. The Minutes Paper evidencing the approval of the PSC is available for inspection,” PSC stated.
For which the Audit maintained that in relation to the recruitment of eight staff of grades 7 and above, the Director of Human Resources submitted a document captioned “Minutes Paper” which stated that the Commission should regularise the status of the volunteers, but that Section 3.3.1 of the Parliamentary Service Commission HR Policy requires needs assessment and advertisement for the recruitment of staff of grades 7 and above.
“Evidence of these documents were not submitted during verification. The issue remains unresolved,” the Audit concluded.