Officials must stick to one job
The best possible way of curbing corruption among civil servants is to stop them from holding more than one job, says an article in China Youth Daily. The following is an excerpt:
Civil servants must get approval from concerned government departments before they are allowed to take part-time jobs, and they must not be paid for it, according to latest rules issued by the State Administration of Civil Servants.
But experts said the rules will not work under current conditions.
Civil servants employed in part-time jobs are usually invested with certain powers. It is easy for them to trade these powers for money.
The corruption of government officials is closely related to them holding part-time jobs. They are given company stock and other benefits.
The most effective way is not to stop them from getting paid for part-time jobs, but to ban them from holding such jobs. That is the fundamental way of removing the breeding ground for corruption.
(China Daily 12/19/2008 page8)
