Fiji public service chief looks back at 'good' 2010

Suva: The Public Service Commission chairman Mr Josefa Serulagilagi has described 2010 as a relatively good year, which saw the enhancement of public sector efficiency, performance effectiveness and service delivery in the whole of the civil service.

Mr Serulagilagi said much was achieved during the year by all ministries, departments and agencies. In addition to implementation of their respective work programmes, they all fully embraced the respective pillars of the People’s Charter for Change, Peace and Progress and the requirements as articulated in the Roadmap for Achievement of Sustainable Economic Development and Democracy.

Mr Serulagilagi pointed out that the launch of the Civil Service Public Exhibition Week and Civil Service Awards Programme at the beginning of the year improved the visibility of work activities pursued by Government. It also gave an opportunity for ordinary members of the public to have a greater say in reshaping the assistances provided by Government as well as giving an opportunity for those seeking to access assistance from Government in a timely manner.

Other notable achievements during the year were the regularisation and confirmation of acting appointments of more than 2000 fulltime employees, the right sizing of the Department of Water and Sewerage and redundancy and redeployment of staff from the disbanded Government Supplies Department, the strengthening of the rural development programmes and delivery and heightened visibility and publicity of government’s services through the Government Information and Referral Centre.

The Government also adopted an outsourcing policy, with the objective of reducing the size of the civil service and its associated operational costs and bringing about improvements and efficiencies in the civil service. The commercialisation of government quarters is also hailed as a great success given the potential for increased revenue and improvements in asset management in this area.

In terms of manpower development, there was the reintroduction of compulsory induction training and re-orientation of the granting of in-service scholarship awards to better meet the needs of the civil service.

The introduction of leadership training for senior officials has paved the way for succession planning and improvements in good governance practices. There were also improvements witnessed in harnessing of training assistance from Fiji’s bilateral partners covering both short and long term training in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and India. Government was also able to send the first batch of six students for medical training to Cuba and opened up opportunities for training in Morocco.

Mr Serulagilagi said there were also marked improvements in handling of cases pertaining to breaches of code of conduct and abuse of office. In this regards, there was full operationalisation of work activities of the Public Service Disciplinary Tribunal. This allowed quicker turn around in hearing and determination of disciplinary cases and at the same time provided an opportunity to the commission to focus on strategic and bigger picture issues and policy matters.

Mr Serulagilagi said there had been commendable turnaround in the attitude of civil servants both in terms of discipline and their approach to work and service delivery.

We will definitely build upon this in the new year, including the implementation of recommendations pertaining to right sizing arising out of the study underway on Functional/ Organisation Review of selected ministries.

“As we farewell 2010 and welcome the new Year, I take this opportunity to once again thank all civil servants for their dedication, sacrifices and hard work in reaching out and effectively delivering the services of Government to individuals, communities, business sector and the public at large,” Mr Serulagilagi said.

“We in Fiji are proud to have in place a civil service which is relatively well developed in terms of resources, processes, systems, and service delivery standards when compared to many Pacific Island countries. We will build upon all these for a much leaner and efficient civil service in 2011”.

Mr Serulagilagi also extended best wishes to all civil servants and their families for a successful and prosperous 2011.