In early 2007, the Government of Bahia - Brazil has identified serious irregularities committed by servants. Concomitantly, several fragilities in monitoring procedures of the principles and standards that conducted the Public Administration, especially those relating to the legality, impersonality and morality were recognized. The absence of a “disciplinary area”, to monitor and control public servants actions, promoted the occurrence of disciplinary infractions practiced by malicious servants and that, in general, were left without punishment.
The situation was characterized by a high number of irregularities committed by servants, low capacity for punishment and prevention of irregularities; low attendance of servants at their workplace (example: teachers in the school); absence of doctors in public hospitals, Irregular clearance for health treatment; irregular accumulations of public office; irregular transfers of public servants; irregularity investigation process adulterated; low self esteem of civil servants; lack of organized information and statistics about the behavior of public servants; absence of exchange of information among governmental entities; lack of shared control operations among government agencies; reactive monitoring. This culminated in a negative image of public servants. This image was associated with incompetent and corrupt practices, with a strong distrust of the population in the public services offered.
Macro problems and their causes were identified in preliminary diagnosis through a matrix of causality:
Large number of irregularities committed by public servants:
• Ignorance of legal norms of public administration;
• Absence of disciplinary code of conduct and mechanisms for monitoring the conduct of civil servants;
• Low salaries for civil servants
Low capacity for investigation, punishment and prevention of irregularities committed by public servants
• Overly bureaucratic and inefficient disciplinary law;
• unmotivated civil servants
Lack of organized information and statistics about the behavior of public servants
• absence of exchange of information among governmental entities;
• Lack of standardization of procedures
Lack of shared control operations among government agencies
• Lack of a “Disciplinary System of the State Executive Branch”
• No sharing of strategic information among governmental entities
In December 2007, Bahia’s Government, with the creation of the “Disciplinary State Board - CGR”, for the first time, began to use an internal control unit to combat irregularities and corrupt practices. This action also helped government in its decision-making processes and public policies formulation, especially in the human resources area. The activities of disciplinary control organs was, until then, isolated and disconnected and do not produced strategic state information that could be used in decision-making, evaluation and formulation of public policies.
The next step, in January 2009, was the institutionalization of a “Disciplinary System of the State Executive Branch” with the primary purpose of promoting coordination, integration and harmonization of activities of supervision and control of functional performance and conduct for public servants, as well as their liability for infringement in the performance of their duties. The creation of the “Disciplinary State Board - CGR” as the “central department” of the “Disciplinary System of the State Executive Branch” has expanded the limits of management in the government internal control.
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