Opposition MP Jone Usamate says he walks around Government ministries and sees people who don't seem to have to do anything and are sitting there doing nothing, which he says reflects weaknesses in the civil service performance management system.
During Parliament's debate on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence's review report on the Ministry of Civil Service 2022-2023 Annual Report, Usamate highlighted that the performance management system is not working and needs to be completely revised and completely reviewed.
INSERT: Usamate on concerns 17th Aug
The Opposition MP says while there have been claims that things have improved since the current Government came into office, senior civil servants have told him that things have deteriorated, discipline has gone downhill and performance has dropped.
He also referred to concerns raised by the Fijian Teachers Association, saying teachers were not being paid for a few months and were able to survive by getting credit from local shopkeepers.
He says people can have good, well-skilled civil servants, but if the framework or process in which they work does not allow them to be successful, they will fail.
Usamate also raises concerns about the size of the civil service, saying it is getting too big and needs to be fixed and made more digital, with the right processes put in place to deliver.
He says the functional review of the civil service and right-sizing need to be taken seriously.
Despite his concerns, Usamate says there is a lot of good work and progress in the report and he supports the recommendations.
While moving the report, Chairperson of the Standing Committee, Lenora Qereqeretabua highlighted that the Ministry has made significant progress in public service reform, but its commitments must now translate into measurable improvements.
Qereqeretabua says the committee found significant progress in workforce planning, performance management, human resource policy modernisation, digital transformation and leadership development.
She also highlights the need to strengthen grievance handling, whistleblower protection, workplace safeguards, ethics and accountability, recruitment and staffing, performance management and forward planning.
While supporting the committee's recommendations, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says the Government is progressively implementing them through its broader public sector reform programme.
Rabuka says the civil service functional review and related reforms are helping Government assess how public institutions are structured, how functions are delivered and where resources can be used more effectively.
He says the objective is not only to simply reduce the numbers, but to ensure Government has the right functions, the right skills and the right people in the right places.
Rabuka also raises concerns about workforce retention, saying the nature of today’s workforce is very migratory and Government can lose the value of training when trained civil servants leave for other areas, countries and services.
Minister for Land and Mineral Resources Filimoni Vosarogo supports the report and its recommendations, saying the report highlights the lack of a government-wide whistleblower policy and concerns around bullying and harassment.
He says the Government will address recruitment transparency, pay inequalities and whistleblower protection, while continuing professional development and the functional review.
Vosarogo says there are positive developments, including the flexible work policy pilot and training of nearly 2,000 civil servants, but says a few good initiatives do not mask the system that is in distress.
He says the Government must build a civil service that is fair, professional and worthy of the Fijian people.
Minister for Labour Agni Deo Singh defends the Government's reforms and supports the progress outlined by the Ministry, saying the Government has taken steps to improve conditions for civil servants, including putting civil servants on tenure, increasing the retirement age to 60 and allowing civil servants freedom of expression.
Singh says salaries were increased between 10 and 23 percent in two years and Cabinet has agreed to a job evaluation exercise for the entire civil service in the coming months.
Opposition MP Virendra Lal raises strong concerns over the findings of the report, particularly staffing shortages, administrative costs, resource allocation and accountability.
Lal says the report gives a clear look at where public funds are going and why the current system is continuing to fail people.
He says the system is out of balance, with heavy administrative layers and upper-tier redundancies while frontline service points struggle with critical staff shortages and regional backlogs.
INSER: Lal on concerns 17th Aug
Lal also questions the size of the executive branch of Government, particularly the size of the Cabinet and the number of ministers, assistant ministers and their support staff, saying millions of dollars and valuable staff resources are diverted away from essential services.
He says Parliament has a duty to check whether public funds are delivering real value to taxpayers and calls for greater accountability, transparency and proper management of public resources.
Opposition MP Hem Chand supports the committee's recommendations while raising concerns over unresolved issues, saying the performance of the Ministry has consequences far beyond its own offices.
Chand says when performance management is ineffective, the public eventually experiences the consequences through slower and poorer services.
He says Government needs to move beyond reporting how many people attended a workshop and begin reporting what changed after the workshop.
Parliament later voted to note the contents of the report, with no member opposing the motion, which was agreed to unanimously.
