A definitive end must be put to the practices of recent years regarding government advisors/consultants

 

11 May 2023, AKEL C.C, Press Office, Nicosia

The issue of advisers hired to the Presidency, Ministries and Deputy Ministries will continue to provoke society until the practices of the last few years are stopped. The fact that the Christodoulides government is following in the footsteps of Nicos Anastasiades and DISY is on the one hand not surprising, on the other hand it cannot be tolerated.

We recall that under both the Tasos Papadopoulos and Demetris Christofias administrations, just 2-3 advisors were hired throughout their respective terms, advisors who were qualified and only intended to fulfill the needs of the Presidency. Any other needs were covered by secondments of civil servants and not by any new hired staff/recruits.

In contrast, the DISY government proceeded to the mass hiring of advisors and consultants. The number of advisers under the Anastasiades administration exceeded 100, not only in the Presidential Palace, but also in Ministries and Deputy Ministries.

It is this abuse that led the Audit Office to urgently demand the regulation of this issue through legislation, but also for Parliament – on the initiative taken by AKEL and the Ecologists – to exercise strict parliamentary scrutiny over the government’s expenditure on advisors/consultants under the Anastasiades administration. In fact, society also recalls the outrageous method of the government’s scheming to ensure that four such advisors would be given permanent public sector employment status through the back door.

The issue of advisors must be settled once and for all by enacting legislation.

AKEL has already taken the initiative in Parliament to prepare a draft bill for a law to at long last and completely regulate the issue.

We await the government’s response.