Ethiopia: Addis Abeba Civil Servants Stymied By Sudden Exam Cancellation

23 December 2023
Addis Standard (Addis Ababa)

Addis Abeba — Thousands of civil servants under the Addis Abeba City Administration faced an unexpected hurdle as the evaluative assessment examination at Addis Ababa University and Kotebe Metropolitan University, set for yesterday, 22 December, 2023, was abruptly disrupted.

Yesterday, Addis Ababa University (AAU) extended an apology for the unforeseen cancellation of a key aptitude test for municipal team leaders and other staff, a task entrusted to it and Kotebe Metropolitan University by the city administration.

The apology, conveyed through a letter to the Public Service and Human Resource Development Bureau signed by Belay Hagos (PhD), Director of the Institute of Educational Research at AAU, cited unforeseen "technical problems" as the reason for the disruption.

In the past few days, social media has been abuzz with speculation that examination papers intended for civil servant assessments may have been compromised. Images purporting to be leaked copies of the exams have surfaced online, fueling a firestorm of rumors about the integrity of the testing process.

However, Belay's letter dispelled concerns of a "security breach," attributing the exam cancellation to "technical issues" encountered. Belay also assured officials in his letter, issued last night, that the university is prepared to reschedule and administer the exams on a mutually agreed-upon date in the near future.

The examination, originally slated for over 16,000 civil servants, is poised to lay the groundwork for a reshuffling initiative by the city administration.

Sixteen key institutions have been earmarked for the first wave of this program, including the Land Development and Management Bureau, Housing Development and Management Bureau, Transport Bureau, Planning and Development Bureau, Employment and Skills Bureau, and Industrial Development Bureau.

Furthermore, the Housing Corporation and Cooperative Commission, among other municipal entities, are slated to participate in the early stages of the program.

Tassew Gebre, the head of the Public Service and Human Resource Development Bureau, recently articulated the rationale behind selecting these specific departments for the preliminary phase of the initiative. "These particular offices were selected for the initial phase because they handle a lot of customers and have a lot of malpractice and service delivery problems," he stated.

Currently, the Addis Abeba city administration oversees a workforce comprising more than 163,000 employees functioning at various levels within its organizational structure.

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