The Bhutanese Leading the way.
As the massive pay hike was rolled out last week there were many grateful people but there were also many who complained that others got more or they got less than expected.
The private sector and others outside the charmed circle of these 30,000 civil servants watched on amazed as the people who got the most still grumbled.
The civil servants should realize that the government is giving the hike at a time when the economy and treasury can ill afford it.
A major chunk of the hike is being made possible by the sale of Bitcoins on the command of His Majesty.
The above should alone be enough to motivate civil servants to work harder and they should give the return on investment through better services and systems.
Like the Mangdechu project was booked to give civil servants the last hike it seems the Punatsangchu II project is already booked to sustain the hike after two years of support by Bitcoins.
The trend has been there from the Chukha project days when the cream and the milk of all mega projects has gone into servicing major hikes for civil servants.
This time the hike is even more acute as the economy is not doing well and the private sector is in its arguably worst state.
The civil servants should not assume that it is their natural right to get the hikes but they should know that the hikes all come from funds and assets owned by all Bhutanese or run in their name.
The Nu 6 billion a year in hikes could have been used to do major rural developmental activities or give a major boost to the private sector, but it was given to civil servants and so the hike should bring about both gratefulness and also a sense of guilt.
This should make them do much better and work more sincerely so that other fellow citizens left behind can catch up.
Apart from this, civil servants can start to spend that money to help private businesses which is not happening so far.
With bad laws and good civil servants it’s still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can’t help.
Otto von Bismarck