Maladina: Public servants distracted by current politics

PUBLIC Service Minister Moses Maladina has called on public servants to continue delivering quality public service amid the current political situation facing the country.
Maladina said there had been a significant disruption to work with the current situation over the Supreme Court decision which declared the governor-general’s election unconstitutional and Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare’s decision to voluntarily step aside.
He said public servants who had not been turning up for work or are engaged politics, must return to their posts in this critical period.
He said the role of public servants was to implement government policies and programmes and not to be influenced by politics.
“There has been significant disruption to government by recent referral activity, issues regarding the election of the governor-general and political manoeuvrings by the opposition.
“As Minister for Public Service, I want to advise all public servants not to be anxious or distracted by the current situation,” he said.
Maladina assured public servants and PNG citizens that the government was stable and the perceived crisis would be resolved via the established legal and democratic processes.
He said the situation was not a cause to abandon work and engaged in political and other activities.
“All public servants are required to work as usual and remain focused on delivering services to our people.
“I look forward to working constructively with the public service in 2011 and wish all public servants a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year,” Maladina said.