PEA hopes for well-run public service

PUBLIC Employees Association (PEA) president Michael Malabag has stressed the need for an efficient, affordable and well-run public service that can serve the country.
He said this after returning from Indonesia where he attended an international quality public service workshop.
Malabag said people yearned for security and lives free of want and fear but their aspiration would not be realised unless the government and all stakeholders worked together in creating a new vision of public services for all.
He said challenges of the 21st century would remain unless there was renewed commitment of commitment to services that would deliver people from ignorance, poverty and neglect.
“It also means taking a critical look at past policies that has made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
“Therefore, the PEA calls for the adoption of a global agenda for quality public services that will provide social justice, sustainable development and better quality of life.”
Malabag said such agendas included:
*Commitment to the rights of all citizens to public services that was universal in their reach and availability, irrespective of social and economic conditions;
*Recognition that quality public services were required in developing, emerging and advanced economies for sustainable economic growth and for the equitable distribution of the benefits of growth; and
*Adoption of policies and strategies for human development that met the needs of everyone in society to have access to communication, transport, health and education, as well as cultural and political freedoms and the right to enjoy decent conditions at work.
He said quality public services could meet the challenges of achieving the millennium development goals in providing hope for thousands of men, women and children to pull themselves out of poverty and build a decent future.
Malabag said this could create solutions to the challenges of climate change and creating green economies, provide foundation for the future through better education and health and ensure mobility of citizens and communication among the people.
He said quality public service could provide for working families, social security and pensions and protect and create opportunities for disadvantage groups.
Malabag said PEA and other global unions should work together, and with other stakeholders including government, to create a culture of quality in the delivery of efficient, affordable, well-run and responsive public services that would serve the communities.