The Department of Personnel Management does not make decisions on the appointment of Provincial Administrators but recommends shortlist of applicants to the Provincial Executive Council before the National Executive Council makes the final decision.
Deputy Secretary Executive Resourcing Wing, Vele Ravugamini, made this clarification during a media workshop on Tuesday in Port Moresby.
Mr Ravugamini said most often media tend to mislead the people with their use of words in their reporting.
“This is the reason why we are hosting this media workshop to help media understand and write good informative reports when disseminating to the people.
“We at DPM does not make any decisions on the appointment of Provincial Administrators but only recommends the best candidates to the PEC after various screening process,” he said.
Ravugamini further stated that the Minister for Public Service plays a key role in the appointment of Departmental Heads, Provincial Administrators and CEOs of Statutory Bodies (without Boards) where he presents NEC Statutory Business Papers to Cabinet on executive appointments.
The Secretary for the Department of Personnel Management on the other hand is the administrative head that facilitates the HR processes leading to the appointment of executive heads apart from other agencies involved in the process.
“The Minister for Public Service has the delegated power of the NEC who advises the Head of State to make acting appointments of departmental heads, deemed departmental heads that is extensions of acting appointments or appointments for short leaves etc.
“The Secretary for DPM facilitates the coordination of the performance of agency heads in line with their contracts of employment.”
Mr Ravugaminin further clarified that the Minister for Public Service has the delegated power of the NEC to sign off on instruments for appointments of acting Provincial Administrators in the cases of extensions of acting appointments or short leaves etc.
He also explained that the Secretary for DPM plays other roles as Chairperson of Salaries and Conditions Monitoring Committee (SCMC); Chairperson of the Pacific Institute of Leadership & Governance (PILAG) Board; Deputy Chair of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC); Member of the Salaries Remuneration Commission (SRC); Other Committees/Councils.
The media workshop was attended by mainstream media personnel and others.