President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday instructed the Executive Yuan to accelerate its reorganization and improve government efficiency and competitiveness.
The Executive Yuan is in the process of streamlining in accordance with the amendments to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法), which stipulates that the Executive Yuan should be downsized from 37 branches to 29, while the maximum number of public servants should be cut from 220,000 to 173,000.
The number of central government employees currently stands at about 164,000, said the Central Personnel Administration, which is in charge of the overall personnel administration within the ministries and agencies under the Executive Yuan.
Reporting on progress over the matter at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee, Minister of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Chu Chin-peng (朱景鵬) said the 29 branches would include 14 ministries and eight commissions, as well as three independent -bodies including the Central Election Commission, the National Communications Commission and the Fair Trade Commission.
The streamlining is expected to take effect in January next year.
Ma, in his capacity as KMT chairman, said this was the -largest-scale reorganization of the central government in 60 years, adding that streamlining was extremely complicated because of the large number of organizations and personnel involved.
“I want to start reorganization as soon as possible because the work should not be delayed further and I expect the process to turn the government into one with integrity, responsibility and competitiveness,” he said at KMT headquarters.
Saying the public expected a streamlined government to be more flexible and effective, Ma urged party members and officials to improve administrative efficiency and service to “win the hearts of the people.”
Under the new structure, the number of top officials including ministers and vice ministers at the Executive Yuan would be cut from 133 to 123, Chu said.
According to the plan, the Sports Affairs Council and the National Youth Commission will be merged with the Ministry of Education.
The Government Information Office would be merged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission would be merged with the Mainland Affairs Council.
Several government branches such as the Environmental Protection Administration, the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Council of Labor Affairs would be elevated to ministerial levels.
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