CAPTION: PS MINFO, Sharon Smith-Johns, PS PSC, Parmesh Chand and PS iTaukei, Savenaca Kaunisela at the press conference for Public Service Day.
The Public Service Commission in its efforts to provide better services to all Fijians has organised a Public Service Day for Ministries and Departments to showcase their services while highlighting achievements and improvement initiatives.
The Public Service Day was officially launched today by the PSC permanent secretary, Parmesh Chand, and two other senior permanent secretaries, the Permanent Secretary for Information, National Archives and Library Services, Sharon Smith-Johns and the Permanent Secretary for ITaukei Affairs, Savenaca Kaunisela.
Also present at the launch were senior officials from the Ministry of Education, PSC and the Department of Immigration.
Government Ministries and Departments have embarked on a culture of total quality and excellence in their effort to improve service delivery and ensure Fijians are provided services in a timely, cost effective and responsive manner.
“We want to be more productive and ensure professionalism, transparency and accountability,” Mr Chand said.
The Public Service Day will be a normal working day and all government ministries and departments are expected to go that extra mile in improving the profile and visibility of services they provide by serving ordinary members of the public.
“Through the service excellence, we are seeing changes in the Public Service, particularly in its responsiveness and service delivery. And we want to heighten the visibility and reach out to all Fijians, including those in the rural areas, business sector and investors,” Mr Chand said.
The day’s activities will focus on the ministry or department’s services and also highlight their achievements and improvement initiatives in terms of public service delivery.
“We would like to have an objective feedback from the public on the level of our public service delivery and we would like to engage with the public and be held accountable as well.”
Mr Chand said they would like to see how they have managed to provide services and the roles they have performed for the public, businesses and those in rural areas.
“We are increasingly opening up government and government services to everyone and everyone has the right to raise questions and critic services.”
He said they will be looking at speeding up response time for certain issues raised by the public and everyone should provide an honest feedback.
On the day senior officials within Government will get to serve at the counter and will experience firsthand meeting the ministries and departments’ respective customers. It will be an opportunity for members of the public to meet the management team and customer service officers could also learn tips of better serving their customers.
“We certainly look forward to a more concerted effort from all stakeholders in ensuring that this program remains sustainable. We must all take heed of the recommendations of the feedback process. We must also acknowledge the fact that there is vast room for improvement.”
MINFO