Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces 52 new staff
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the recruitment of 42 diplomats to take up new assignments in South Sudan’s diplomatic missions within and outside the country.
The appointment of four administrative attaches and six staff members for the position of information and communication technology (ICT) was also announced by the ministry on Wednesday.
The announcement marked the first competitive employment process in the history of the ministry since 2011. Out of the over 400 applications, 218 were shortlisted and only 52 passed both oral and written interviews back then.
According to the ministry, fourteen of the 52 recruits were females, including eleven diplomats, two ICT staff, and one administrative attaché, in order to meet the 30% gender equality and equity requirement.
“The panel was constituted on the legal framework of the Public Service Reform Agenda and the principle of transparency and equal opportunity for all,” said Ambassador Edward Hakim, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
He added the ‘‘public service laws and regulations on recruitment and selection based on merit were applied accordingly.”
Ambassador Akwoch Daniel Ding, Chairperson of the Recruitment Committee and Director of Administration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said the recruitment committee, composed of nine members, were drawn from within the ministry and that of public service to make the process credible.
He added that the majority of the candidates, including interns from the ministry, failed the test due to many factors, such as language barriers. This is because most of them were from Arabic backgrounds and had unauthenticated certificates.
“Out of 218 candidates, only 52 candidates are recommended for the appointment. Some candidates failed their interviews, and some did not attend interviews because of unknown reasons.
‘‘Some candidates were not considered for interviews as their original documents were missing and some not authenticated,” Amb. Akwoch said.
Though Amb. Akwoch did not specify the number of candidates with unauthenticated documents. Last year, the ministry of higher education revealed that there were rampant cases of fake documents possessed by government employees.
The Minister of Higher Education, Gabriel Changson Chang, attributed the poor productivity within government institutions to fake documents, pointing out that his ministry was collaborating with the ministry of public service to roll out a vetting process.
In June 2021, the Minister of Information and Government Spokesperson, Michael Makuei Lueth, also blamed the poor performances in the public offices on the possession of forged documents by some employees.
“That is very clear in the performances of all the staff, some of those who acquire these certificates in fraudulent ways are the people who fail to deliver in the offices,” Makuei told journalists.