How do state secretaries work and how much do they earn? Documents

How do state secretaries work and how much do they earn? Documents

Some ministers complain that instead of state secretaries they got “overseers”

A year ago Ukraine introduced the institution of state secretaries. This happened as part of the new law “On Civil Service.” The idea was that qualified people with decent pay would organize the work of ministries. These specialists, in theory, would not depend on political currents and would guarantee continuity of power. Unlike ministers, whose appointments and dismissals are determined by the stars on the political horizon, state secretaries are chosen for five years.

By the end of 2017, state secretaries had already appeared in all ministries (except Health) — officials with an apolitical status and the powers of department heads.

Kostyantyn Vashchenko, head of the National Agency for Civil Service, emphasized that ministers would remain key figures in their departments, but they would finally be relieved of technical functions and the need to make current operational decisions. However, at least in most ministries events began to unfold according to a completely different scenario. Some ministers, speaking off the record, say that instead of state secretaries who should have eased their load, they got “overseers” from Prime Minister Hroisman. And these “apolitical” specialists are allegedly geared toward carrying out behind-the-scenes agreements and lobbying commercial interests.

It must also be acknowledged that some ministers, thanks to their influence and special positions in the government, received “convenient” state secretaries. For example, the state secretary of the Interior Ministry became former deputy of Arsen Avakov, Oleksiy Takhtay. The influential minister gladly welcomed Takhtay’s new appointment and called him a “wonderful specialist,” although the biography of this official contains quite ambiguous moments. The state secretary of the Ministry of Information Policy became Artem Bidenko — an ally of the head of the department and the president’s godfather Yuriy Stets, who also previously served as deputy minister. The state secretary of the Ministry of Justice is Hanna Onyshchenko, who has long worked side by side with Minister Pavlo Petrenko; the state secretary of the Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories is Deputy Minister Serhiy Zlakoman, who, like Minister Vadym Chernysh, is his deputy. As Glavcom reported a year ago, from the outside it all looked like a staged show with a predetermined outcome.

But not all ministers were so lucky. Only two government officials — Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan and Acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun — dared to openly protest against the state secretaries selected in competitions. In December of 2016 they held a joint press conference, in which they alleged non-transparency of the competitions and refused to work with the people chosen for state secretary positions — the nominees of “semi-criminal business groups.” As Glavcom has already written, the slow pace of the competitions and the names of the finalists indeed gave reason to doubt the objectivity of such selections and the independence of the chosen top officials. In essence, coalition factions, under the guise of personnel reform and competitions, were dividing ministries among themselves for many years (even when their ministers are no longer there, the state secretaries will remain in office). Energy Minister Ihor Nasalyk also expressed certain doubts about the competition results. But Prime Minister Hroisman paid little attention to the complaints of dissatisfied ministers. State secretaries were nevertheless appointed to almost all ministries. Strangely, Ulana Suprun has so far been the only one to “defend herself” from an “overseer.”

The position of state secretary corresponds to the highest level of civil service (category “A”), and its function is to ensure institutional continuity of power. The official manages the ministry’s apparatus, is appointed for five years, and continues to work after a minister is dismissed. This principle allows the official and their subordinates to implement ongoing reforms and hand over affairs and experience to new heads of ministries when political leadership changes. Corresponding positions are provided in each of the 17 ministries, plus the state secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers and his deputies.

How they sidelined ministers

After the election and appointment of state secretaries, key powers in ministries were divided as follows: ministers are responsible for shaping the department’s strategy and work with parliament and the expert community. State secretaries implement the policies outlined by ministers through a staff of employees. They are the ones who have the right to hire personnel for the ministries’ administrative apparatus.

According to Glavcom’s sources, the theory envisaged by the law and the practice turned out to be far apart. In some ministries, as expected, a conflict matured between the minister and the state secretary. In some places this war is “cold,” and elsewhere open “combat operations” are being waged.

“The people taken as state secretaries have no idea how the state apparatus works, they are focused on personnel appointments for money and lobbying decisions that have a commercial basis,” one minister told us.

Overall, Glavcom managed to speak with leaders of various ministries. Most of them describe the problems that arose as a result of the personnel reform as follows:

First, in the opinion of senior officials, a parallel system of state governance is now effectively being created. Meetings with state secretaries are held at the Cabinet level where certain tasks are set for the latter. Ministers are not invited to such meetings.

Second, no personnel appointment (either to the central apparatus or to a state enterprise subordinate to a particular ministry) can bypass the state secretary. Ministers currently do not have the decisive vote. It turns out that ministers bear political responsibility for a sector, while the levers of influence over the situation belong to a completely different official.

Third, some state secretaries have openly begun to manage the managers of departmental enterprises. “He (the state secretary) calls a person to him and says: ‘Follow my instructions, otherwise I will ‘eat’ you,’” one minister complained to Glavcom. State secretaries also “drill” ministry staff: they remove employees’ bonuses. Through such savings a parallel budget is formed, which is then used by the state secretary at his discretion: for example, to renovate his office or to award bonuses to himself or “necessary” employees. Glavcom has relevant documents, agreed upon by certain state secretaries with the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, Oleksandr Saienko.

How much do state secretaries earn?

State secretaries’ salaries reach ministerial levels. As the Cabinet of Ministers’ state secretary Volodymyr Bondarenko previously reported, the average salary (base pay, allowances) amounts to about 40 thousand UAH. However, these officials often receive significantly larger sums.

Glavcom obtained from all ministries information about the size of salaries, supplements, and bonuses of state secretaries for the entire period of their service with a breakdown by month.

According to department data, the largest total payments during the period of service as state secretary were made to the state secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Oleksiy Perevezentsev, for the period from December of last year to September of 2017 (without data for October — Glavcom).

The total earnings of the Ministry of Economy’s state secretary Oleksiy Perevezentsev from December of 2016 to September of 2017 amounted to 734,7 thousand UAH (net pay he received 591,4 thousand UAH). The smallest amount accrued to him was in December of last year — it amounted to 35,8 thousand UAH (to be paid out — 28,8 thousand UAH). The largest — 145,4 thousand UAH — was in August. That sum also included financial aid in the amount of 65,3 thousand UAH. In the last month of summer the state secretary of the Ministry of Economy received 117 thousand UAH net.

Before being appointed state secretary, Perevezentsev headed the ministry’s legal department. He did the same during Yanukovych’s time in 2013, and in 2012 he was deputy head of the department. Recall that in 2012 President Poroshenko held the position of Minister of Economy.

Salaries accrued to state secretaries for their period of service in office

In general, the base salaries of state secretaries are fairly modest — up to 13 thousand UAH. However, due to various allowances (for rank, length of service, intensity of work, performance of particularly important work, work with classified documents, etc.), bonuses and other supplements, officials manage to reach more substantial amounts — including more than 100 thousand UAH per month.

The highest monthly salary accrued to state secretaries during their period of service in office

Author: Kateryna Peshko

Source: Glavcom.ua