Coalition govt brought certainty and gave civil servants permanent tenure – Prof. Prasad

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says when the Coalition Government came into power, the first thing they recognised was that they needed to bring certainty and give the civil servants’ security of tenure, by moving away from contracts to a permanent tenure.

Professor Prasad says some people are saying the government did it too early, and they should have got rid of some of the political appointees that were there, but they did not even do that as they wanted to show that when a government changes, the civil servants remain neutral and apolitical.

He says the Government and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka should be given credit for that as the Minister responsible for Civil Service.

Professor Prasad highlighted that many of the civil servants are hard-working.

He says since 2017, none of the civil servants had any pay rise, including the teachers, doctors and nurses, and when this government came into power, they raised the salaries and wages of our civil servants from between 7 percent to 20 percent.

He adds it does not make sense for the Opposition Members to generalise and pontificate about what they expect the civil servants to do because of the damage they did.

Professor Prasad says the 16 years that the previous government was in power, was complete destruction as there was mental and physical, sacking and removing of people, in not only the civil service but in boards and other places as well.

The Deputy PM says that culture is behind us and the Coalition Government has done that in two years, which is a very significant step by them.

While responding to Professor Prasad’s statement, Opposition MP Jone Usamate says the Coalition Government has put people who were part of their campaign team into government which has destroyed the civil service.

Usamate says this very system that the Coalition Government has put in place, leads to problems which they are trying to blame on the Opposition.

He says the way this government has appointed people into positions, left, right and centre has destroyed the institutions of this country.

He adds that before the Coalition Government starts throwing a stone, they should look at themselves in the mirror first.