Payroll review would save millions, says Juffa

THE correct execution of the public service payroll review would save millions of kina annually and restore integrity into the system, says chairman for Special Parliamentary Committee on Public Sector Reform and Service Delivery Gary Juffa.
He said while the committee had aggressively facilitated the public sector space, it did not believe a review and recommendations, or a new system or process was the long term answer to the integrity of the government payroll system.
“It is working on the painful longer-term solution of the supply of the correct human resource which runs these systems.
“A nation is not as good as its systems capabilities – a nation is as good as its human resource capabilities.
“A top-class system can be bought and installed overnight – not a top class human,” he said.
Juffa said the massive overruns in public service emoluments since 2010 were noted by the National Executive council (NEC) in 2018, peaking at K730m in 2018.
The NEC commissioned an independent review, and in September 2019, a public tender was awarded to international accounting firm, Deloitte.
Juffa said owing to verbal advice of confidentiality, the committee had no oversight of the review, it was signalling the results it wished to see emanating from the review.