Public service revamp

By MALUM NALU
CHIEF Secretary Isaac Lupari says next year’s national budget will feature a complete overhaul of the public service.
He revealed this to The National yesterday when giving a sneak preview of the budget to be handed down by Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch next month.
“That (public service overhaul) is going to be an important part of the budget,” Lupari said.
“We want to rationalise the public service, something that I’ve been talking about all along.
“The public service is too big and there are a lot of duplications.
“The aim now is to rationalise the public service with a view to achieving cost-effectiveness, and savings that can support other important sectors of the Government.”
Lupari said a committee headed by Personnel Management Secretary John Kali had been meeting over the past four months on the rationalisation of the public service.
“We’ll be looking at departments that are performing roles being done by other departments,” he said.
“We’ll be looking at the abolition, merger and transfer of functions.
“The idea is to make sure that departments focus on their core functions, because many departments are doing functions that really belong to other departments.
“Hence, there’s confusion being created.
“There’s wastage of public resources and the outcome is minimal in terms of service delivery to our people.
“The Government has seen that challenge and is committed to reorganising the public service to be more outcome-based.
“By having too many organisations, it becomes difficult to grow capacity.
“We want departments to focus on their core functions and grow capacities around their core functions, so there’s professionalism and expertise in our organisations.”