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COMMODORE JOSAIA V. BAINIMARAMA Prime Minister and Minister for Public Service, Peoples’ Charter for Change, Information, Provincial Development and Multi-ethnic Affairs and Indigenous Affairs Police Academy, Suva Thursday 4th Sept, 2008 A very good morning and a warm welcome to you all. As Prime Minister and Minister responsible for the Public Service, I decided to convene this Workshop for Ministers and Permanent Secretaries for several reasons. At the outset, and before I go into the reasons why we are dedicating a good part of our time, today in this Workshop, let me put you on notice: I shall be speaking to you in a totally candid, forthright and direct manner. I must do this in order that the purposes of our coming together today may be better served. First and foremost, I wish to stress the following: all of us present here today, i.e. the Ministers and the Permanent Secretaries, together, collectively, we represent the leadership of the current Government. It is not only the Interim Government Ministers who are the leaders. As Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, how we exercise our roles and responsibilities, both individually and collectively, is of great and vital importance to Fiji, and its people. Against this backdrop, therefore, let me touch on the reasons for this Workshop. In a few months time, the Interim Government would have been in existence for two years. Of course, those of you who are public servants, you have been serving in Government for much longer periods, if not as Permanent Secretaries then as senior civil servants. One important reason for this Workshop is that as I reflect on all our achievements since January, 2007, I have this feeling of deep regret. The regret is that the Interim Government could have done and achieved much more than we actually did accomplish. In this particular context, a major concern is that the overall efficiencies and effectiveness of the public service leave a lot to be desired. Generally, inertia is widespread; and both morale and motivation as well as productivity are low. The capacities in some key areas are weak even while the overall size of the public service is rather large for a country of our size. The reform and right sizing programme of the current 10% reduction in operational costs are to minimize wastage and to critically use the minimum resources we have on the most important activities that would bring in further gain economically and socially. I am not seeing the level of commitment required to achieve this, and I wish to inform you today all exemptions already granted for the 10% reduction will be reviewed. All of you must contribute. The reduction in the size and cost of the civil service and other related reform initiatives can only succeed with government commitment i.e. by the leaders – you Ministers and Permanent Secretaries. Bold decisions have to be taken to improve service delivery and to assist our people to improve their living conditions. Last week, at the launching of the draft Peoples Charter public outreach and consultation programme, I stated that Fiji’s overall political, social and economic situation is such that the case for change is very compelling. I had said that we in Fiji can and must achieve change for a more equitable and prosperous future for all our citizens. And for this, we all must share a collective will to achieve the changes that are imperative. This applies in particular to the public service and the current government. To put it simply and quite bluntly, we cannot carry on “business-as-usual”. We must transform the performance orientation, service delivery effectiveness and overall productivity and efficiencies of the public service. As Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, individually and collectively, we must exercise effective leadership; and we must lead by example. This Workshop will focus on the role and responsibilities of Ministers and Permanent Secretaries; in particular on the “demarcation” of the relationship. Since the Interim Government was appointed by His Excellency the President, I am aware that in a number of cases, there have been certain difficulties, misunderstandings, even strains in the relationships. I would like us to seize this opportunity today, and in a constructive and forward-looking spirit, to address the critical issues that constrain and affect our overall performance as the leadership of the current government. We owe it to the people of Fiji to do this. I recognize the need for Ministers and Permanent Secretaries to be clear on how their respective roles and responsibilities are “demarcated”. Let us seize today as an opportunity to clarify this, but equally importantly, I urge us all to think in terms of synergy, teamship and alignment. In our efforts to move Fiji forward, your alignment to the vision that is contained in the Peoples Charter is of most critical importance. Important to the realization of our Vision of a better Fiji for all, and for us to address the challenges that our country faces, is the issue of leadership; our leadership as Ministers and Permanent Secretaries. In regard to the issue of leadership in general, I wish to share with you some concerns and thoughts. We need effective, forward-looking leadership, not only at the national political level but also at other levels in our communities, including in the private sector, in the religious organisations, the security forces, villages, towns, cities and in the wider civil society. In this context and in particular, we need strong and effective leadership in our public service and by the government. The challenge of moving our country forward under good, decisive and effective leadership, is a collective one. It cannot rest on just one leader or any one political party for that matter. It will depend on good leadership at all levels. Leadership that ordinary people can respect and follow because of the examples set by the leaders. We need leadership with broad support of our people, together sharing a vision of Fiji’s way forward. We now seek to move Fiji forward through the Peoples Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. Each one of us here today, as leaders of the public service and the current government, we must demonstrate our alignment and commitment to moving Fiji forward. I raise the issue of good leadership because of the failings in the past, particularly in the two decades since May, 1987. Our nation and our communities have been ill-served by the kind of leadership that have only looked after the interest of their narrow base of followers or communities. They have not seen the common interest and the inter-dependence of our people as being important. Today, we live in a globalised and more intricately connected world. Events that happen in other parts of the world have immediacy of impact on our lives, more than was the case in the past. We live in a more crisis ridden world; a world of challenges impacting on our use of resources, our physical environment, and on our individual and collective aspirations to have better living conditions. In our recent history, we failed to elect leadership to provide good governance and ensure wise and effective use of our resources. We have tended to produce selfish, short sighted leaders mainly interested in providing for themselves and their followers, and in defending institutions and practices that served their power base. We have had many short sighted, parochial and outright racist leaders. Many of our leaders have not provided good examples to inspire our young people. Also, we have produced the kind of leaders who wrongly believe that leadership is merely proving to the indigenous Fijians that they have the most nationalist programmes, and then pushing for these, irrespective of whether they are sound, socially just, and economically beneficial. We still need to learn from our recent experiences that narrow, ethnicist leadership is divisive and wastes resources on pandering to people’s emotions. There is a realization amongst the ordinary people that Fiji needs leadership that is selfless, inclusive, and broad minded and that cares for the interest of all communities. Our country needs the leadership of people with moral courage who are also modest, truthful and honest. To have moral courage means leaders who are not afraid to make tough decisions when they know it is the right thing to do. Related to this is the willingness to have dialogue and debate and to persuade people to support decisions that are in the national interest. But in the end the hard decisions must be made. Decisions that might be unpopular or even arouse fear, but are in the long term common interest for us all. Where there has been conflict, leaders must be willing to pursue justice, reconciliation and healing, and be able to do this in a selfless manner. I have dwelt on the issue of leadership, in general, at some length not only because it is of most critical importance for our nation as a whole but also, in particular, for the public service. From the outset since its appointment, the Interim Government’s preoccupation has been to move Fiji forward to a sustainable path of peace, stability and prosperity. Among the key pillars in the Peoples Charter are our quest for good and just governance, to grow the economy and to reduce poverty. During the period 2007 and 2008, we have made progress particularly in consolidating the public finances and arresting the fiscal imbalances. However, on the development front, our progress is rather marginal. As I have already indicated, we could and should have done much better. In the 2008 Budget, the Interim Government had announced a number of important initiatives and reforms : in the areas of infrastructure upgrading and development, private sector development, enhancing productivity and competition, trade reforms, labour reforms, public sector including civil service reforms, financial management reforms, public enterprise reforms, et cetera. In most if not all of these areas we should have shown robust progress. Sadly, this is not the case. I have been told that in many instances it is not the lack of resources which has constrained the effective implementation of the announced initiatives and respective Work Place of Ministries. It is more the processes of advance planning and preparedness on part of Ministries/Departments and Agencies which delays or makes implementation of approved projects redundant. I would like this to be a thing of the past and with immediate effect, we work towards rectifying the weaknesses in the processes of planning and preparedness so that we have 100% implementation of all Cabinet Decisions, approved Work Plans and initiatives announced by Government from time to time. We are now working on the 2009 Budget. In this Budget, one thing I must avoid is putting out a plethora of promises. I would like this Budget to boost confidence, particularly of the private sector, for it to invest more, to grow the economy and to generate the jobs that we need. Also, I want this Budget to be pro-poor, to improve the basic living conditions of our people. Moreover, through this Budget, I want the public sector to demonstrate its own commitment to change: by doing more with less ; by raising its productivity and service delivery ; and by ensuring its own right-sizing through the much needed and long overdue reform and restructuring. Earlier, I referred to the need for alignment. I would like you all, the Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, to demonstrate the necessary alignment and the commitment to change, to exercise the much needed effective leadership in ensuring the orientation of the public service to a no-nonsense, performance and results-oriented culture. Let me conclude by urging upon you all a sense of urgency in getting things done. This is an imperative. If there are three key words that we must internalize, individually and collectively, as the leaders of the public service and the current Government, as we seek to move Fiji forward, they are: implementation, implementation, and implementation. Thank you. **** |
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