RIYADH: Many officials at government agencies are bureaucratic and shortsighted and are not delivering proper services to citizens, said Dr. Saleh Al-Khathlan, Deputy Chairman of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR). He said the queues of residents and citizens gathering at the gates of government agencies are proof of this poor service delivery and implementation of royal decisions and orders. If these agencies responded promptly to decisions and orders, there would not be such crowds, he said. Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, Al-Khathlan said the NSHR regards this as a denial of people's rights. There needs to be administrative reform, he said. Al-Khathlan said the NSHR has discovered that citizens are unhappy with the way government agencies are dealing with recently issued Royal Orders. Citizens are frustrated by delays and the arbitrary manner in which officials take decisions to help people. He said his organization is communicating with government agencies about the issues. “The NSHR is responsible, from the point of view of citizens' rights, to inform the higher authorities and show the weaknesses in the administrative apparatus,” he said. “There has been a good response from some government agencies, but some have problems with administrative efficiency.” Al-Khathlan called on the Institute of Public Administration to speed up the establishment of the Performance Assessment Center for state authorities so there is an ongoing assessment of their work to grant citizens their rights. “The NSHR reviews how well government agencies have been able to carry out their basic functions to ensure that people get their rights. We will issue a report about this soon,” he said.
