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Commodore Josaia. V. Bainimarama Prime Minister and Minister for Public Service, People’s Charter for Change, Information, Provincial Development, Indigenous & Multi-Ethnic Affairs & Acting Minister for Finance & National Planning Cabinet Ministers Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen We now come to the end of this two day summit. I would like to see this not as an “end” but the beginning of a new way forward, in the forging of a stronger and mutually beneficial partnering relationship between the private sector and the Government, within the broader framework of enhancing development and the national interest. Over the past two days, for my part, I have been actively listening; and this in itself has been immensely useful for me. One thing, overall, has come through abundantly clearly. This is that the Government and its agencies must be much more responsive and pro-active than it has been to date in supporting, facilitating and promoting private sector-led growth. The overall perception of government is rather negative, that it is lethargic and too bureaucratic. I have been very much seized by this particular feedback. I urge the private sector to continue to provide us with candid feedback publicly and transparently. You must demand better and efficient services to keep the Government on its toes. Let us be honest to ourselves and to each other. In this context, before this Summit, last Thursday in a workshop for Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, I had raised by concern that the overall efficiencies and effectiveness of the public service leave a lot to be desired. I had also indicated that, generally, inertia in the public service is widespread and that morale, motivation, as well as productivity are low. I had impressed upon my Ministers and Permanent Secretaries that we cannot carry on “business-as-usual.” The private sector is one of the key stakeholders of the Government. Let me today assure you of the following. I am committed, as Minister responsible for the Public Service, to transforming the performance orientation, service delivery effectiveness, and overall productivity and efficiencies of the public service. For a country of our size, the public service is rather large. However, the reform and right-sizing of the public service that must be effected cannot be just confined to an overall reduction in the size of the bureaucracy. These are some key areas where capacities are weak. In these areas, we need not only more, but better qualified and experienced people. From our discussions yesterday, one of the key messages that came through is the need to appropriately upskill, strengthen and better resource the agencies involved in the investment approvals process. There will also be equal emphasis placed on better resourcing our export facilitation agencies so that the private sector is assisted in accessing various export markets. We need to turn “export accesses into export successes.” We will attend to all this. I have already asked the Minister for Commerce to coordinate with all the approval agencies to have in place the suggested checklist within a fortnight. Overall, we need a lean, better remunerated and more effective public service. We need to now adopt a much more businesses-like approach to the management of the public service. In getting the public service to be more performance oriented, there is merit in re-introducing the Service Excellence Awards, same as that being run by TPAF. This will be done. In my opening remarks yesterday, I mentioned that we are now working on the 2009 Budget. I also mentioned that I would like the 2009 Budget to be both pro-growth and pro-poor, with the private sector supported and encouraged to play a lead role. In this regard, I wish to put to you two concrete proposals. The first is in regard to the discussions that we have had over the past two days in this Summit. The six Working Groups have generated a number of proposals. I would like to ensure due further consideration of these, and to do that with a sense of urgency. I propose therefore to have further consultations, and for this I would like to invite the Chairpersons and one other member from each of the six Working Groups to meet with me and my Government team within the next fortnight. The second concrete proposal I have relates to infrastructure development. The current state of our infrastructure is dismal. There is a massive need to upgrade, rehabilitate and develop new infrastructure. This applies to both the major national level infrastructure and also the very basic services at the level of villages and settlements. This is one area of productive investment on which I propose to give very high priority in the 2009 Budget. I propose to allocate appropriate levels of resources especially since this is vital for private sector-led growth, and for improving the living conditions of our people. In this regard, therefore, I would like, through the 2009 Budget to enhance the partnering between the private sector and the Government in ensuring that we make substantial and quick progress in upgrading, rehabilitating as well as developing new infrastructure. We cannot simply rely only upon the Government, in particular the Public Works Department, to carry put out our infrastructure development requirements. I therefore call upon you in the private sector to come up with innovative proposals including ways and means to enhance and strengthen the partnering between the private sector and government. I would like us to be prepared within this year; that is, firm projects must be ready for us to get implementation underway starting in January 2009. This is another matter on which we must move forward with a sense of great urgency. I intend to set up a joint Government and private sector team to look into this now, before we finalise the 2009 Budget. Following this Summit, I will take steps to appoint a Minister with dedicated responsibility to spearhead regional, provincial and outer islands development including infrastructure development. The Peoples Charter outlines a unifying vision for taking Fiji forward to a path of peace, stability, growth, and sustainable democratic governance. I will not fail the people of Fiji on this vision. The Peoples Charter rejectionists cannot detract is from this. I thank you all for participating in this Summit. I would like us to continue to have the kind of dialogue and consultation that we have had in this Summit. To suggest that it is a waste of our time and resources is an insult to the intelligence of all of you. You have given generously of your time, and you are seized of the importance of moving Fiji forward. We must remain focused on this as our shared goal. Thank you, Vinaka Vakalevu. |
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