Lawmakers’ Agenda | Sulu Sou questions criteria for hiring non-resident civil servants

Lawmaker Sulu Sou recently sent a written question to the executive branch to request clarification on the hiring criteria for non-resident civil servants.
He recapped that in 2017, local Chinese media reported that a graduate from the Macau Polytechnic Institute said she had been hired by the government through “special channels” under the recommendations of the institute.
It was reported that she was hired within government to work as translator, which, at that time, yielded a monthly income exceeding MOP40,000. Meanwhile, local residents had to struggle for a role against thousands of applicants, even when they were applying for a position paying MOP24,000 per month.
Sou cited Law 12/2015 for giving the green light to the practice, but only where there is a shortage in the professional workforce of appropriate candidates or when the particular non-resident candidate has special talents.
However, he remarked that the criteria for hiring non-resident civil servants lacks transparency in relation to the justification behind the employment decision, salary level and dismissal mechanisms.
After making three consecutive requests, the lawmaker eventually obtained data that showed that, as of May 31 2020, the government had hired 141 non-resident civil servants, with seven of them holding consultant positions.
As such, the lawmaker is now asking the government if it has plans to publish data on the number of non-resident civil servants, their origins, résumés, salary levels and reason for employment.
Furthermore, he also asked about the specific process and standards on which the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau and the Chief Executive – both of whom are supervising agents on decisions to hire non-resident civil servants – approve such employments.
He also asked for the reasoning as to why specific bureaus need to hire so many non-resident civil servants.