Getting Stuff done

Picking up on our last column’s theme we thought we would stay focused on what is clearly being identified as a core problem .......“getting stuff done” ...... in Government.

The recent Straight Talk with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Biman Prasad reflected this and he made his frustrations very clear. From his perspective, they have done the early “heavy lifting” starting with building a sustainable tax structure that is delivering the revenue Government needs and cutting back on wastage. The result is a national budgetary deficit that is heading in the right direction i.e. reducing.

The DPM is understandably a bit upset that the Government isn't getting the credit they deserve. They have boosted the minimum wage rate and handed out various goodies without blowing the budget and most importantly the inflation rate at the end of 2024 eased to 1.3%. For the non-economists anything under 2% is regarded internationally as good.

BUT this is all as he pointed out dependent on one final ingredient - economic growth. This has returned to round 3% with independent economists suggesting it will rise to 3.4% this year. Historically this is the equivalent of a pass mark for Fiji .... okay but not something to get excited about. The goal for Fiji, as a lesser developed nation, must be to lift this to around 5%.

Economic growth is dependent largely on the private sector and currently it is riding on a booming Tourism sector. As Government has recognised there is a desperate need to spread “growth” to other sectors reducing our dependence, and the risk, of relying too much on Tourism.

The good news is that the economy is very liquid. That means, in simple terms, that the banks have lots of money to lend at low interest rates. This, in turn, should encourage investors to start growing their businesses and generate that growth we need. The problem is this is not anything new. The Fiji economy has been “liquid” for quite a while and apart from some short periods, interest rates have been historically low. So why the reluctance of investors to borrow BIG.

The obvious reason is political instability. If an investor is going to tackle a long-term project, they need to trust the system and Fiji does not have a great track record. However, true democracy has returned and there is a growing confidence that despite the occasional “drama” it looks like it will be here to stay. What of the other factors ......Well, this is where we get to our point. A lot of it sits with Government and more importantly the efficiency of the Civil Service and the regulatory process.

First is the issue of spending Government funds in a timely and efficient way. Not something that comes naturally to bureaucrats anywhere in the world. In Fiji, however the issue is chronic and to be honest it is not exclusive to the public sector. Sometimes it seems that we have turned the typical “service” relationship on its head. The goal in many Fiji organisations public or private seems to be, “how do I prevent the customer from ripping me off rather than how do I delight the customer by delivering excellent service.” So, when a customer steps into a government department or retail store the mindset is not how do I say “YES, we can help solve your problem but NO I can't or won't help.”

How do we change this? Remove the climate of fear and replace it with one of TRUST.

YB has expressed its misgivings on this current Commission of Inquiry on numerous occasions but if it leads to a review of FICAC it could be a blessing. Currently within the Civil Service, FICAC drives this fear and the result, as we have said previously, is paralysis. Ahh, you say but how do we fight corruption. We are not saying remove FICAC, which would be impossible any way because its position is secured in the Constitution, BUT it can be reformed.

One idea floating around legal circles is to remove the prosecution role from FICAC. We aren't the only country to have this type of organisation but typically “ICAC” bodies stick purely to investigating and like the Police if they have a case, they take it to a separate Prosecutions organisation like the Director of Public Prosecutions who will then decide whether it is worth taking to court.

The combining of the two roles in one organisation in Fiji’s case was useful when the aim was to use FICAC means of intimidation and persecution. In a FREE society this is not appropriate AND leads to abuse of process because there is not a system of internal independent review. It also means that FICAC can focus on its core role INVESTIGATION !

Next is to recognise that many of the “rules” around decision making and spending money are way out of date. Most organisations have differing levels of spending authority allowing employees to make decisions and spend funds, whether it be taxpayer or shareholder $s, to deliver the services required. YB understands within Government these spending “limits” have either not been reviewed in a very long time or have been deliberately kept low as a means of control requiring civil servants to seek either Permanent Secretary level or in many cases, Ministry of Finance permission to spend relatively small amounts. This is why we inexplicably run out of the most basic things because it is sitting on a desk awaiting approval. Free this up and allow Civil Servants directly handling the spending the authority make the payment.

All this requires TRUST and building a climate of TRUST in the civil service, or any organisations, isn't easy. Measurement is important and it needs to be quick not five years after the fact! This is where investment in the Auditor General’s office is important because mistakes will be made and very occasionally there may be abuse of office. It is at that point that our streamlined FICAC can enter the picture to investigate genuine cases of abuse BUT not genuine errors of judgement.

This sounds easy but it requires a lot of work down the chain of command reviewing documenting levels of authority and then training and counselling civil servants to use that authority to deliver excellent service. Building trust is a lengthy process particularly when you are working to overcome a long history of mistrust and intimidation.

The benefit of getting Government funds out into the economy quickly will be, along with improved services, economic growth. One clear example is our roads. YB notes with great fear the view expressed by the Minister of Finance, and many others in Cabinet, that we need to bring back the PWD. NOOOOOOO what we need to do is pay our current private road contractors on time and consistently! It is not just about spending, as we discussed last week, Government plays a vital role in ensuring general compliance to standards we, as a society, require to keep us safe. That might be maintaining safe vehicles or ensuring building standards are kept so our buildings don't blow away in a cyclone. However, in a climate of mistrust, where delaying a decision is the goal not making one, paperwork is a convenient way of flicking on responsibility. Once again DPM Biman Prasad raised this in his interview, and it presents a major problem particularly in land acquisition and construction. As any developer will tell you the biggest block to any development is not the funding it isn't even finding the workers, now they have freed up work permits, it is getting pieces of paper stamped.

Once again this requires some bold “nuts and bolts” action. A team working their way through the process and asking the simple question “is this action, form, approval necessary??.” Can we digitise it? Who is qualified to make the call here ..... does it really need to be the Minister or Permanent Secretary? How can we speed this process up? It can be done and there has already been some considerable progress in certain Ministries. YB understands the star is the Ministry of Environment where under new leadership the process of getting Environmental approvals for projects has been transformed.

One observer recently commented that he felt one of the reasons for excessive compliance was that Civil Servants didn't have confidence in the ability of various regulatory bodies to hold anyone to account IF they broke the rules. This led to much of the behaviour we just described. Good observation and we stress all of this must come with investment in holding these offenders to account. But always remember the ‘crooks’ are only a small percentage usually under 5%.

All simple, boring stuff that requires patience, commitment and an understanding that changing our bureaucratic system will not be easy, but it is not impossible, and the benefits are huge. One final comment on the interview with the Deputy Prime Minister. YB noted that he boldly stated that he expected municipal elections in September. Hmmmmm........ YB hopes so ...... we certainly need it; the municipal administrations are struggling to keep up with providing the basic amenities that our city and town ratepayers desperately need. BUT it would seem there is a lot of work required to meet that deadline starting with legislation and it might help if our Elections Office and the Ministry of Local Government became a little more focused on immediate responsibilities!