The Government is determined to boost public service efficiency.
Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel says it is about investing in the right areas of the public service such as teachers, nurses and police.
“We want to support those and we want to trim down central agencies of government to make us more efficient,” he states.
“Those people who are in the public service need to have contracts and conditions, time management and NID cards, so that they turn up to work as a real human being and they get paid, they are clocking in and they are earning their pay and they are producing results,” says Abel.
The DPM wants head of agencies to be held accountable for the management of their staff as well as themselves.
“If you breach appropriate provisions around wages or you don’t produce your reports on time to parliament without it being audited, you should be held accountable. It’s that manager that will drive the rest of them.”
Abel says there will be more emphasis on contracts for managers following a performance based system that is already in place, brought in by the last public service minister.
“When your contract gets reviewed, you will be thoroughly assessed for you performance.
“But I think we have to make it specific if your financial reports are not up-to-date and are not on time and you don’t have a valid excuse, it should be grounds for suspension and removal.
“It’s all about accountability and establishing standards and enforcing them.”
(Loop file pic)