Reforms will go on improving public service
16.07.2009
Reforms of the public service sector will go on so as to ensure continued improvement of service delivery, principal secretary for public administration Jessie Esparon said yesterday.
She was speaking to journalists at the closing ceremony of the public service forum for Commonwealth Africa, attended by Vice-President Joseph Belmont, who is also the Minister for Public Administration.
Mrs Esparon said improvements do not necessarily always mean laying off staff, but looking for ways to give efficient service.
“Reforms are a continuous process. At the moment government is doing a lot of restructuring to remove duplication and to see which services should be privatised and which ones government needs to continue offering,” she said.
“We will also see where there is a need to invite the private sector to step in and help government.”
Mrs Esparon said Seychelles has done a lot to put into action the recommendations of the last such forum, held in Mozambique.
“It was based on values and ethics, and since last year we have made a lot of progress in governance,” she said.
“For example, we have instituted the public officers’ ethics commission, where top civil servants are required to declare their assets and interests, and we have also enacted the Anti-Corruption Act.
“So we have made a lot of progress and we continue to do so. It is very important for the reform and also for us to get help from organisations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.”
Delegates commended the way the forum – at Le Méridien Barbarons Hotel – has been organised and, through Tlohang Sekhamane of Lesotho, said “it will go down in history as one of the best run”.
Philip Ngole of Cameroon said public sectors of countries that host the forum benefit from sharing the expertise of delegates, and for that reason he is happy his country will host the next one, to be held under the theme: Managing and integrating public sector reforms in an era of global economic crisis.
Mrs Mondon (right) addressing delegates and guests
Officially closing the forum, Minister for Employment and Human Resources Development Macsuzy Mondon said there has been growing collaboration between the Commonwealth Secretariat and governments of Commonwealth Africa since the forums were first organised in 2004.
“The fact that you have all travelled a long way for this occasion is proof of your deep sense of commitment and the high importance that you attach to the forum. Seychelles, for its part, is honoured to have had the opportunity to host the forum,” she said.
“We have seen recently, at a global level, the importance of the public service, given its ability to bail out the private sector. This goes to show that the public service can play a vital role in national development.
“In support of this, the theme chosen for the sixth forum urges effective performance management in the public service. All governments represented acknowledge the fact that performance management requires a common platform, political commitment and stakeholder participation in ownership of sound management practices with the right behaviour and attitudes of employees towards performance management.”
Mrs Mondon told the delegates that governments are aware of the many challenges they raised, given the scope and cost of the process.
She appealed to the heads of management development institutes to develop and deliver quality training programmes “including change management that will go a long way in facilitating the introduction of performance management systems”.
Mr Belmont presented Jacqueline Wilson, the director of the Governance and Institutional Development Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, with a souvenir of Seychelles.
Each delegate was also presented with a souvenir, while members of the secretariat presented Seychellois organisers with tokens of appreciation for the forum, which they too said was well run.