Since the late 1980s, many African countries have been reforming
their civil
services as a part of the process of state redesign. Unfortunately, these
reforms
have not been very successful because of faulty diagnosis and prognosis.
They
have failed to tackle the major problems confronting African civil services.
These include serious human resource management issues of leadership,
merit pay and related governance reforms, the appropriate strategy for
mobilising resources for civil service reform (CSR) and for implementing
such reforms. These issues must be adequately addressed before African
countries can make significant progress in CSR and in development.