Editor,
I am confused by the "less work more pay" policy that seems to be practiced throughout the Government.
Last year, Parliament thought it was too burdensome on their members to work the whole day (5 hours) during those three days they are in session. They debated to reduce their work hours and their work days so they can mulch things over. Now, the public servants are not to be outdone?
I read the article, "Civil Servants Launch Weekly Sports Day" with amazement at how twisted the system is, and how helpless the people are in preventing this debauchery.
It was not too long ago when the kingdom was shaken by the PSA's strike and demanded a 60% to 80% increase of their salaries. Although I supported the strike, I was not in favor of the huge pay increase.
It has always been my belief that the fact that I have plenty of blank personal checks at home does not mean I have plenty of money in the bank. The same idea applies in this case. Unfortunately, the Government failed to recognize that this applies to them as well.
The Civil Servant's sport's day event organizers estimated the crowd was around 1,000 people. From my third grade economic perspective, at least 500 man-hours were fraudulently spent or stolen from the people who shoulder the burden of the 60% to 80% pay increase. That is 500 hours of work that was given up so the public servants can have fun.
I applaud the effort to push a healthy lifestyle on the public servants. But, having done it during the hours when the public still expect services is a stab in the public's eyes. When services were stopped at 3:30pm so the public servants can make it to Ma'ufanga at 4:00pm, is there a reduction in their pay or should we call this theft?
In the event our hard working public servants forgot, theft is still a crime.
In the event the educated public servants of the kingdom have not heard, there are other hours of the day besides 4:00pm. Some are called, 4:00pm to 6:30am in the morning and evenings after duty hours.
I have seen a few brave people kayaking on weekends. The civil servants should take a hint from these brave souls. If they use the morning hours or their weekends to improve their health, they won't have to rush through traffic to get to Ma'ufanga at 4:00pm. Plus, they will give an honest day's work to earn their very good salaries.
TamFoa
tevita [dot] u [dot] langi [at] us [dot] army [dot] mil
