“Let’s not lose touch with our rural communities, we are there to serve them.”
These were the sentiments shared by Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management Hon. Inia Seruiratu while addressing members of the Ministry’s senior management, Provincial Administrators and District Officers during the annual Planning workshop in Lautoka yesterday.
Minister Seruiratu reminded his staff members that as officials of Government, they needed to go out to communities and listen to their concerns and issues.
“We must take ourselves down to their level and bring them up to align to the expectations and development programmes that Government has set up,” he said.
“We need to be a bit more visible not only for the sake of being present, of course you are not only implementers you are advisers. Do engage with our people and be more visible.”
“You need to align to the strategic directions of the Ministry and of course, that’s also in line with outcomes of the Ministry as expected by Government. Let’s not just carry out activities for the sake of getting busy, we need to ensure that what we are doing is not only good for the community but part of the bigger plan and vision of Government to build a better Fiji and improving the services in rural Fiji.”
Hon. Seruiratu reminded his officers about the commitment made by the Hon.Prime Minister for rural Fiji.
“You should also be guided by the statement of the Hon. Prime Minister whenever he comes to the rural areas because there is only one standard in Fiji. There is no standard for urban communities and another standard for rural Fiji. Our challenge is to raise the standard of rural Fiji to the same standard like what those in the urban centres are experiencing.”
“I need not remind you again, rural Fiji has a lot of potentials and opportunities. Challenges will always be there, if we remain committed and maintain our focus, we should be able to work better. Let’s maintain our focus on our vision because that is the underlying statement that will drive all the activities of the Ministry.”
He also reminded the Ministry’s officials about the importance of embedding resilience at the heart of all developments.
“In the Pacific region, we are among the most vulnerable in the world – we have disasters, we have climate change, we have pandemics and the socio-economic issues that we face. We need to be focused on resilient developments.
“The way we live is changing and therefore the way we do developments must change and the way we do partnerships must also change. This is evidently the way that we are approaching the future. Our development paradigm has changed, the way we see and do things must change because of the changes in environment. External environment changes and you must also change within. I wish to remind all of you, this must trickle down to every individual serving in the Ministry.”
“Government needs to get its return on the investment it is making. We have to take people out of the poverty cycle and that is one of our biggest challenge and for that we need to look at the opportunities that are there.”
Minister Seruiratu reiterated that he had high expectations from those in leadership positions within the Ministry.
He also emphasised on the need for officers to improve their service delivery and ensure customer complaints were addressed in an efficient and timely manner at all times.
Meanwhile, as part of the two-day workshop, participants also conducted site visits to projects implemented by the Ministry in remote communities in the Western Division.
The workshop ends today.