Are Greek ministers up to the job?

Βy John Dumont (PhD, Cornell, USA) is a Professor at UIndy Athens

As a foreign scholar and professor of management here in Greece, a question I have often wondered about is why the leaders of the various ministries (eg. Health, etc.) don’t necessarily need as a basicqualification, technical expertise in the primary aspects of the ministries they are assigned to. It seems the only real job qualification is political expertise, and not necessarily in the ministry they are placed to (although there are certainly examples of ministers who are technically qualified to run specific ministries like the Ministry of Economics).

It would seem that in virtually all manor of organizations, there are specific base level qualifications that every candidate must have and procedures they must follow to find a job. You don’t have to search much to find examples of all the hurdles students and candidates for employment have to overcome like the Pan Hellenic Exams, DOATAP and ASEP. Of course additionally, they must haveadministrative and managerial skills (proven at a number of levels) as well as the obligatory political skills to navigate the dangerous waters through which they steer their policy initiatives. Surely, there must be enough qualified individuals with the subject expertise and the necessary admin/managerial as well as political skills necessary to be effective.

Why, instead, do we settle for someone solely on the basis of there political skills (read connections or network). And if the argument can be made that the technical expertise in the area is completely unnecessary or certainly the least important, doesn’t this say something about the nature of the a society whose key institutions are led by people whose only or primary qualifications are their political affiliations? Do we leave the most import decisions about the direction of our society to these people?

We need only look at the most recent government to get some indication of the value of expertise or the lack of it in leading the country into crisis (not to mention their moral and ethical pedigree). It seems strange that the procedure and qualifications for becoming a flight attendant for Emirates Airlines might be more rigorous than that for becoming a minister.

Shouldn’t there be vetting and confirmation processes for choosing these people who have a strong influence on our lives? Shouldn’t the citizenry be involved at some level in the hiring process for these people? And shouldn’t they have some reasonable duration in the job (2-4 years with yearly evaluations) in order to be more effective? Of course I do not pretend to understand the ins and outs of the Greek political system, I am merely posing a legitimate question for which I would appreciate a thoughtful answer.

statesmen.gr