Meeting
separately, both the MPRP and the DP parliamentary groups this week decided
that the proposal to retrench 7,000 Government workers should not even be
discussed this year. It could be included in the 2011 budget and debated when
the preliminary draft for that is submitted to Parliament at its Autumn
session.

A
working group set up by Parliament to identify ways to bring down the budget
deficit to levels acceptable to the IMF had proposed the retrenchment in state
organizations. The DP MPs felt the question is not just one of dismissing 7,000
Government employees, who include teachers and doctors. There is widespread
concern and criticism that the quality of work in both education and health
sectors continues to be unsatisfactory. The DP feels proper management of the
budget will achieve better results than just ordering the Government to cut
jobs. Individual sectors should decide what salary is to be given to employees,
and how to penalize incompetence as well as reward efficiency. The DP MPs feel
some private sector management practices should be followed in government
service also.

The
MPRP group accepted that MNT8 billion must be cut from administrative expenses,
but the lives of many people depended on that money and no hasty decision
should be taken, especially during a period of economic recession. The popular
perception that the government structure is too big ignores the fact that it
includes teachers and doctors. The MPRP group favored a complete overhaul of
the administrative structure to be debated in the Autumn session.

Asked why the DP group did not support the working group’s proposal to do
away with the positions of deputy ministers and their staff and also with some
agencies but supported a lower number of teachers and doctors, the group’s
leader, Saikhanbileg,
said it was wrong to present it as the DP “opposing those who did the real
work”. Cutting the jobs of deputy directors and deputy ministers will never
save as much money as the salary of 7,000 people. The general budget governor
has said the minimum monthly salary of a teacher was MNT300,000. Some of the
money saved by the proposed retrenchment can be used to pay those who work well
more. The fiscal stability law is likely to be passed soon. People have a right
to expect better work from those they pay and the budget governors will be
asked to ensure this. They will decide whether to hire 110 people or 80. The
better workers have to be paid more.