Makkah

LOCAL newspapers have reported recently that Minister of Health Tawfiq Al-Rabiah has issued a circular preventing extravagance during receptions accorded to senior officials by spending huge amounts of money for publicity and to rent luxury cars for transport. The circular, addressed to all health facilities in different regions and governorates, also banned the provision of accommodation to visiting officials.

The circular instructed that rented cars should not be used to transport officials including the minister and the concerned departments should make use of vehicles at their disposal. It banned excessive spending on hospitality and placing of banners and posters to publicize the visit of top health officials including the minister.

I was very happy to see that circular as it reflects the minister’s administrative wisdom. We have been watching a lot of extravagance at the level of city administrations as well as ministries, which spend larger amounts than other organizations, to welcome ministers and other top officials. It is a totally unnecessary expenditure, as we do not need any publicity for an official coming to inspect his department.

I recently attended such an event organized by a government department to receive its director general. Big arrangements were been made to receive the official.

Like other writers, I asked the authorities to stop such events to publicize the department’s achievements. In my opinion such publicity will only help enhance the profile of that official. Why should we give such huge publicity for the visit of an official spending a substantial amount of money? After all he has come to inspect his department’s activities and performance.

In my view it is high time all the ministries adopted a positive approach to cut excess spending and prevent corrupt practices. Many senior officials and their aides interpret the rules and regulations related to reception and hospitality as well as rules of travel allowance and housing to realize their vested interests.

I take this opportunity to propose that the ministries should stop the practice of allowing so many officials and their aides to inspect any department. The visit should be restricted to the top-ranking official in charge of inspections. The current practice is visiting officials to be accompanied by many managers of departments and heads of the ministry’s branches, which is a waste of time and money.

At the same time, these practices negatively affect the interests of citizens, as they do not get necessary services when branch managers become absent from work to join official delegations.

We have noticed that during inspection tours, some departments will produce documentaries or presentations to appease the minister or the official. This will further increase their expenditure. An official is supposed to closely follow the activities and achievements of the departments under him or her. So I don’t think there is a need to produce such documentaries and brochures to enlighten the officials on their departments' activities.

It is highly heartening that most ministries and government departments have established event halls to hold programs. In the past, they used to rent five-star hotels, conference halls and banquet rooms to organize events, spending huge amounts of money. I hope such conference halls will be established at all branch offices of ministries and departments to cut spending.

I am also happy that all ministries have set up websites on the Internet and opened accounts on social media networks, which allow them to publicize their services, activities and achievements without spending any money. The new media helps them avoid wastage of huge amounts of money on printing brochures and producing CDs.

Before concluding, I once again hope that all of our ministries and government departments would follow the Health Ministry’s good example to cut expenditures.