Permanent Secretary for Civil Service Parmesh Chand has strongly condemned Investment Fiji Chair Jenny Seeto’s recent statement about civil servants and called on her to follow the established channels for individual Ministries.
Seeto reportedly criticized civil servant’s laid back attitude and went on further to say the culture in civil service needs drastic changes in terms of service delivery.
Chand said this is an extremely generalized statement.
“There are more than 35,000 civil servants spread across 31 Ministries, more than 50 Government Departments and Agencies and located in excess of 300 different locations across Fiji.”
He said Fiji’s Civil Service is well organised and has stood the test of times on many occasions.
“One would appreciate it better if one looks at how the Civil Service responds in times of emergencies like natural disaster and pandemic such as COVID-19.”
“They work under strenuous conditions and reach out to thousands of families seeking assistance. Our teachers, nurses and discipline forces are amongst the best, and they are sought after internationally.”
He went on to defend these Government agencies tasked to scrutinize proposals and applications for permits.
Chand said this is to ensure safety compliance, adherence to environmental and health standards, protection of waterways and natural habitats, safeguarding the weak and vulnerable and generally ensuring there is fair play.
He said it may take time to ensure there is a full spectrum of information to hand or for that matter an assessment to be made taking into account the interests of those they are expected to address as part of respective legislation and regulations.
“Government agrees that there is, however, always room for improvements.
“If anyone has issues with those agencies processing certain permits, they need to bring those up through the established channels for consideration of the line Ministry or Permanent Secretary for that matter.”
“This ought to be an ongoing process as we are there all doing our jobs by way of the respective legislation and regulations. In this age of easy accessibility through smartphones etc., we are all reachable. I am not trying to be defensive, but we need to be specific and objective.”
He said the Civil Service is a diverse institution existing to service the machinery of Government, Ministers, visitors to our shores and ordinary members of the public alike.
Chand added that the Government is always prepared to take on board constructive suggestions for improvements.
FijiLive has reached out to Seeto for comments on this matter.
