It is a new system, but an old debate. The latest case at the Famagusta District Administration, where almost every employee was graded a flawless ten, shows how quickly the much-heralded reform of public service evaluations has collapsed into the familiar farce. The practice has long raised eyebrows in Cyprus, and in 2025 the story is the same: a system launched with promises of accountability has delivered only cosmetic change.
The reflex of “everyone is excellent,” seen by evaluators as the safest option, strips objective assessment of meaning. Worse, it robs the public service of the only tool it has for feedback and improvement. Instead of a mechanism for measuring performance, the evaluation process has become a ritual of box-ticking and hollow praise, empty of both substance and motivation.
The results speak for themselves. With rare exceptions, such as the Deputy Ministry of Shipping and IT Services, the pattern across ministries and departments remains unchanged. Training for evaluators did little to shift habits, and the entrenched mentality within services has survived intact. The conclusion is inescapable: the new system is not failing because of poor design alone, but because of a culture that refuses to take evaluation seriously.
This is where responsibility must lie. Senior officials must show the professionalism and courage the situation demands. Political leadership cannot continue to gaze passively at distorted statistics and declare success. The real test is not the form of the system, but whether those tasked with applying it are willing to confront mediocrity and reward genuine merit.
There are ways forward. External evaluators from the private sector or academia could bring independence and credibility to critical assessments, countering the ingrained culture of “collegial leniency.” Citizen evaluations of services, wherever feasible, could add a further layer of accountability and act as a lever for improvement.
Restoring credibility in the public service is not a luxury; it is a necessity for the state and its citizens. Without a transparent and reliable evaluation process, no reform, however well designed, will bear fruit. The failure of the new system is a stark reminder that until attitudes change, Cyprus’ public service will remain trapped in a culture of complacency dressed up as excellence.