ARMA Competition: Steps, Necessary for Changes

On December 10, 2021, a regular meeting of the commission for the election of the ARMA head was held. However, the commission was unable to adopt the procedure for evaluating professional knowledge.

In September of this year, the composition of the commission for electing the head of the Agency was determined. However, since then, it has not even advanced to the stage of testing candidates’ knowledge. Unfortunately, the constant postponement of meetings due to the lack of a quorum has become the norm.

Thomas Firestone, delegated by the State Financial Monitoring Service, last week asked to be excluded from the selection commission, which the commission did. However, so far, the Cabinet of Ministers has not appointed a replacement for him.

Therefore, first, it is necessary to appoint a new member to ensure the stable work of the selection commission.

Only 12 candidates have submitted documents for participation in the competition, and this number is extremely small for a sufficient level of competition. Obviously, the low level of interest of candidates in the competition is just the result of the commission’s work.

Confidence in potential candidates was undermined by the lack of a competition procedure and rules for the work of the selection commission at the stage of starting accepting documents, as well as the blurring of criteria for evaluating integrity. Therefore, the issue of transparency of the competition and equality of participants is extremely acute.

To correct the situation, it is necessary to at least adopt a methodology for evaluating candidates during interviews. This document should clearly define the criteria for assessing the integrity of the future head of the ARMA, considering the best Ukrainian experience. This will ensure an equal approach to each of the candidates and facilitate the selection of the best of them.

Unfortunately, without these steps, it is difficult to expect a decent result of the selection of the ARMA Head.