Sheikh Mohammed reveals UAE's best service centers

Dubai: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Saturday announced the UAE’s five best and worst service centres in terms of their performance.

According to the list, the best performing service centre is the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship’s centre in Fujairah, while the worst is that of Emirates Post-Al Khan Branch in Sharjah.

The evaluation process has covered more than 600 service centres across the country.

On Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed said: “Brothers and Sisters ... Today I received a comprehensive assessment report on the level of services in 600 government service centers. We promised to announce the five best and worst centres.”

“We issued directives with immediate effect to replace the directors of the worst centres with managers who know how to deal with the public. Additionally, we directed a two-month salary bonus to all teams which ranked among advanced positions,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

“The evaluation of services will be done on a yearly basis and we have an annual assessment for all ministers, undersecretaries and general managers, ministries as well as government entities... We will transparently share all our reports. We have the courage to clearly evaluate ourselves and our teams. This is because the cost of masking errors and inefficiency is much larger” Sheikh Mohammed added.

Surprise inspections

The announcement from Sheikh Mohammed comes more than four months after he pointed out the poor standards at a government service centre and pledged to remove staff who are not performing well.

The criticism was prompted by a photo of lengthy queues at a branch of Emirates Post that he received from a mystery shopper. At the time he spoke of the need for a broader focus on customer service and “transparency” in public services.

“This is not our level. These are not our services. And whoever continues to provide such level of services will not be among my team,” he said.

Committed to improving the quality of services, Sheikh Mohammed has frequently carried out unexpected inspections of government offices to ensure high standards are being met.

Last year, he toured Dubai International Airport and called upon airport officials to raise the bar in welcoming travellers and streamlining procedures for people flying in and out of the UAE.

Empty desks

In 2016, he also famously inspected Dubai’s Land Department and the Department of Economic Development, finding empty desks on the morning that staff were due to return to work after a long weekend.

Last year, Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet and Future Affairs, said that Sheikh Mohammed has taken nine kinds of decisions to change the face of Dubai and the UAE and the entire region, stressing that the common factor between all His Highness’s decisions lies in its high ceiling.

Al Gergawi, who was addressing the audience at the majlis of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, called one type of decision made by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid “shocking decisions” that aim to bring about change in concepts or patterns.

He recalled His Highness’s announcement of the results of the worst performance sectors during the launch of the Government Performance Improvement Programme in 1998.

“When we were surprised by the announcement of the worst sectors in public, everyone felt the shock that had a major impact on the development of the level of government performance in general, to the extent that the sectors of the worst performance announced by His Highness are now the best internationally,” Al Gergawi said.

The five best centres according to the list are:

1. Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship’s centre in Fujairah

2. Ajman Centre belonging to Ministry of Education

3. Traffic and Licensing Centre in Ajman (MInistry of Interior)

4. Wasit Police Staion in Sharjah (Ministry of Interior)

5. Ras Al Khaimah centre for Shaikah Zayed Housing Programme

The worst centres are:

1. Emirates Post - Al Khan Branch in Sharjah

2. Al Muhaisnah Centre for Preventive Medicine in Dubai (Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship)

3. Sharjah centre of General pension and Social Security Authority

4. Baniyas centre for social affairs, Abu Dhabi (Ministry of Community Development)

5. Tawteen (Emiratisation) Centre - Fujairah (Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation)