Ba’athist rule not open to reform: expert in Syria’s Damascus
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Since Ba’athists and influential individuals are running state institutions, an administrative reform conference held by the Syrian government will not contribute to solving the problems of corruption in Syrian institutions, an administrative expert said on Monday.
The essence of administrative reform is based on three points, “finding administrative structures for government institutions, placing a job description for employees, and modernizing administrative procedures,” the Damascus-based expert told North Press.
“We can notice the failure of the project through several main points, as implementing slow steps by the implementers; for example, in training teams in 2020, they relied on courses (training of trainers) for some employees of public sector,” he added.
“Administrative positions from the bottom to the top of the hierarchy are limited to Ba’athists. Despite the cancellation of the eight article of the Syrian constitution, the Ba’ath Party is still occupying all administrative positions and appointing Ba’athists based on people’s partisan assessments rather than efficiency and experience, which is another reason for the conference’s failure,” he pointed out.
The most important reason for the conference’s failure “is having people above the law, who cannot be held accountable or forced to implement any measures as a result of their ties with security authorities or influential people, who protect them,” according to him.
These reasons were the main cause for classifying Syria as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ranked 178 out of 180, the third after Somalia and South Sudan, on the Corruption Perceptions Index in a report released in 2020 by Transparency International.
The implementation of the administrative reform project, “requires fulfilling quick steps in the first place, exceeding the corruption of power figures, ending their interference in the work of institutions and appointment people according to loyalty, and ending the Ba’athist monopoly of the government,” he elaborated.