Unfortunately, in the government sector cronyism trumps competence every time. This is not just limited to ability, this is associated with qualifications too.  At no point should any government manager or any person in a leadership role be in that position without the prerequisite qualifications. 

Sure, you could argue there are people with qualifications that are absolutely hopeless. That is true, but there has to be some form of determination of competency and the tertiary sector is a pretty good start. The private sector values qualifications, what I see is education and training opportunities aligned to business outcomes, the tertiary sector targets outcomes industry consultation. 

What I see is friends and associates brought in by a marginal selection process that has unfortunately been corrupted. These compromised people owe their position to their personal benefactors and the cycle of incompetence continues. They plant their people below them, now they have a force field of people surrounding them forming a shield of corruption. 

They reinforce their positions and engage in empire building, this is a non-competitive practice that the public sector employs. They parachute their friends, associates and followers into acting positions in direct contradiction to merit based employment requirements. When an official position is available, there is already an incumbent in the role and they are slotted in officially. Nobody else stands a chance, they never get a look in and that’s their plan.