Public service needs overhauling

 THE performance of provincial governments came under the scrutiny of Parliament this week.

A report tabled in the House on Wednesday by Deputy Prime Minister and Inter-Government Relations Minister Leo Dion revealed that the overall performance of provincial governments in 2008 and 2009 was far below the level required to achieve Papua New Guinea’s millennium development goals by 2015.

While its findings are almost five years old, the report should nonetheless ring alarm bells within the corridors of power and throughout the government bureaucracy.

It did raise the ire of outspoken Northern Governor Gary Juffa, who, during debate on the report, blamed under-performing public servants for the lack of effective service delivery throughout the country.

Juffa raised an interesting point about the state of the country’s public service machinery, which was adopted from the Australian colonial administration at independence 38 years ago.

“The rest of the world has moved on and changed their (public service) machinery but we are still pushing the rusty wheelbarrrow,” he said.

The governor called for a complete overhaul of the public service machinery and even suggested that the public service should be corporatised and all public servants put on employment contracts with clear performance requirements and indicators.

We couldn’t agree more with Juffa, especially his notion to corporatise the public service. 

While it may not be feasible at this stage, it is worth considering in a major review of the current public service machinery.

As it is, the current system, which is a relic of our colonial past, is merely old and rusty and in dire need of a major overhaul.

The sooner a review is carried out, the better it will be for the political leadership, the bureaucracy and the country at large.

Juffa’s point about putting public servants on employment contracts is also worth considering as it will improve performance and accountability, which are currently lacking in the public service. 

Western Governor Ati Wobiro also made as lot of sense during debate on the report when he called on his colleague governors to take heed of the report by learning from the negatives of the past and change the performances of their provinces for the future.

“We need to find solutions, find a way forward to improve our performance,” Wobiro said.

Well said, governor. 

With the O’Neill Government’s focus on provinces and districts with increased funding and changes to the procurement processes, our 22 governors can make a real difference in the way their provinces perform.

For a start, the governors need to drastically improve the quality of governance and the way they prioritise and manage their resources.

They also need to take drastic measures to improve the performance of their provincial administrations as indicated in the 2008-09 report.

The provincial bureaucracy is responsible for implementing development programmes and projects throughout the province. 

It is also responsible for effecting service delivery to the districts and local level government areas.

If the provincial administrator and key managers are not up to the task, as was the case in many provinces in 2008-09, then programmes and projects are not fully implemented or are not implemented at all while the service delivery machinery grinds to a halt.

In other words, the provinces do not develop and grow according to the national government’s plans and budget. 

As a result, the people suffer because they are denied essential services such as health and education as well as the opportunities to meaningfully participate in the economic activities to improve their standard of living.

Provincial governments are a vital cog in PNG’s three-tier government machinery and have direct access to the rural majority of our people.

The performance of their political leadership and bureaucracy is crucial to their success or failure and reflects on the national government.

It is therefore imperative that provincial governments are well equipped with the manpower and resources to carry out their tasks of serving the people.