Merit Based Human Resource Management in Tigray Region: Do We Really Know What We are Doing?

Abstract

The Ethiopian People’s Democratic Revolutionary Front (EPRDF), currently ruling party, comes to power after 17 years struggle for liberty and egalitarianism against the Military government. The May 1991 change of government (Socialist to Federal) was therefore a turning point for the civil service. It was during the early days of the EPRDF that the government tried to restructure the civil service system as a structural adjustment with federal sentiment (multi-party democracy and market driven economy). It was with this intention that, the autonomous civil service institutions were established and the civil servant was begun to serve with merit principles. It is believed that, a successful merit based human resource management is the cornerstone government institutions to implement public policies and strategies. This in turn also can have a direct impact on the development performance of the nation. However, some empirical evidence indicates that, the merit based human resource management is inhibited by many administrative bureaucracies. Therefore, the objective of this article was to examine the practice of merit based human resource management during the implementation of civil service reforms in Tigray regional state. To examine the merit based human resource management, the relevant data was collected both from primary and secondary data sources. Finally, the factors that impede the merit based human resource management were identified and the discussion was concluded that regardless of the institutional framework in-place, the application of merit disciplines as a guiding principles were highly inhibited by unnecessary political interference, poor separation of power, poor accountability system.