Proposals by the Public Service Commission (PSC) point to the end of an era where the President and deputy had a free hand in appointing special advisers.
The plans are laden with bold steps, including the number of staff, their qualifications, ethics, and where they will be recruited from.
People from the private sector will be picked under special circumstances, including when there’s a shortage of such talent from within the public service, and they will not supervise other public servants.
That defines structure, especially in the public service, a monolith that may be abused without proper lines of management.
Such officers, because they work for the top executives in the land, need to operate under a strict code, lest they go overboard with disastrous results like when they intimidate other offices, get super pay, work without grades, and their number is not controlled.
There is a need to work within the limits that define public service. However, advisers ought to be people who get along with their bosses. It would be counter-productive to insist that the President and deputy work with people they neither understand nor know.
While this is an opportunity to refine such roles, the chiefs ought to be able to play an active role in the recruitment to make them as comfortable as possible.
Anything else would confine the PSC-picked advisers to their desks without roles and briefs as the President resorts to others they prefer. A good rule should aid a smooth flow, not hurt it.
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