Reinstate chief secretary’s position

WHILE political horse-trading is at its peak following the Supreme Court’s advice to recall parliament, we are expecting a government with a new look either under Prime Minister James Marape or a different prime minister.
Whichever way things turn out, there will be a new government to run our country.
The frontline vehicle that will drive your development is the public service machinery.
I have said it before and am repeating, you cannot discharge your service delivery duties on a level playing field where there is no coordination and oversight.
If you are serious in delivering all your services, you need the public service machinery to drive your goals.
The public service should be a single vehicle playing a coordinated oversight on its service delivery.
This key role of coordination and monitoring and oversight will only be effectively managed from the office of the chief secretary.
The previous decision to abolish the office of the chief secretary was misleading and ill-advised.
I am calling on the Government to reinstate the office of chief secretary and allow the current chief secretary to revive all his oversight powers that have been buried in politics.
The Government needs that office to drive its development agendas.
Once it’s abolished, the bureaucracy would appear as a level playing field with no oversight and the government’s policy and directions will be submerged.
Every agency and sector will run their own empire exclusively within their mandated territories reporting only to the minister and the respective secretary.
The prime minister will lose control and focus on its oversight responsibilities.
There will be no report on traction on government decisions and the entire bureaucratic machinery will remain disintegrated and uncoordinated requiring another reform down the line.
Considering all the consequential legislative policy implications, I again call on the Marape to reconsider the decision to abolish the office.
It is fundamentally critical to maintain the office of the chief secretary.

Koreken Levi – former Director
Legal/Constitutional
Department of Prime Minister