Do the officials earn too much in Poland? ”There is a belief behind this question that the officials do nothing” - replies Misiąg - ”unfortunately, there are such as well. To make it even worse, it happens they disturb the ones who keep trying to do something. In their case any money paid by the state will be too big.
Select from the best ones
Vice-President of NIK adds, though, that there is a big group of officials in Poland who earn too little. Too little as for their professional skills and efficiency. ”Today, the critical thing is not to lead to negative recruitment in public institutions” - says Misiąg. And he gives an example: ”Let’s imagine a brilliant, talented, young man with great professional prospects. He has several career paths to choose from. He considers work in public administration but because of his wife and family he will not go to work in a public institution. Because the salary he will receive is not going to guarantee him the life at least meeting his minimal aspirations.
Third part of the interview with Wojciech Misiąg on public institutions and officials
Officials earnings
Good earnings guarantee that you select from the best ones in the job recruitment process. Yet, the pool of money in public administration will always be limited. It is the key thing, then, that public funds should be used at their best. ”If we give money to not very useful persons or have significant excess of headcount in some areas, we will then lack money in the places where we really need it and for the people who deserve it most” - claims Misiąg. At the same time he does not conceal that quite radical measures are needed to change that situation.
An active official
In response to the question if the Supreme Audit Office sees any role for itself in shaping good and efficient public institutions, Misiąg puts it short: ”Yes, and this role is very important”. In his opinion, NIK should propagate an active approach to the official’s role in public administration. What does it mean? Misiąg comes back to the issue of ambiguous provisions. ”If an official has to work in the tangle of regulations which are sometimes unclear even for their authors, we have to take it into account” - he explains, stressing at the same time that NIK has been fighting for improvements in the Polish law for years. ”As for now, we cannot live with the explanation that the official did nothing illegal in an affair of the citizen who came to him with a problem. It may also mean he or she did nothing at all. Let us change the viewpoint and ask: did you help that person, did you do your best in his or her matter? If it turns out you did not, despite the fact that you did not breach any provision, we would evaluate that action as negative.
Accept the risk
Misiąg keeps repeating that auditors should start accepting risk incurred by the officials. ”If we know that the official was forced to face a dilemma they shouldn’t face, we have to evaluate not only which regulation they breached (most often they had to breach some, anyway) but if they acted rationally and decently, simply like a human, in a given situation.
Are the NIK auditors ready to audit the officials in that manner? ”All I have said so far refers also to our employees” - replies Misiąg. ”The great majority of auditors have already understood that change in thinking about public administration. But not all of them. Some inspectors still find it difficult to accept that acting legally is still too little for an official. Much too little. As the Supreme Audit Office we have to require something more.
