Senior Executive Appointment and Performance a Papua New Guinea experience.

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1 Senior Executive Appointment and Performance a Papua New Guinea experience. 1 Introduction. Papua New Guinea is at a critical point in its history. It will be celebrating its 30 th year as a sovereign nation in September There is no doubt that this country of now 5 million people has a very huge choice to make. It can carry on with business as usual and face continuing crisis or it can consciously choose a new road to prosperity. According to some experts, at the most, Papua New Guinea has 10 years before it arrives at the point of no return. Based on business as usual notion, the years following the predicted 10 years will be characterized by: Poverty and lack of economic opportunity for most; Wealth and opportunity for some Corrupt leadership Growing gap between the rich and poor and between rural and urban areas. Increasing intertribal conflicts Increasing crime and decreasing law and order A degraded environment. In the midst of all this, one thing is clear. Papua New Guineans are concerned at the direction their nation has taken in the last 20 years and are angry at the leaders who have taken it there. And the results of successive elections clearly show the disaffections of the population. The second thing that is clear too is that for Papua New Guinea, the future is part choice and part chance. And the conscious choice is that instead of sitting down and complaining about the darkness, we must light the lamp now to enable us to see better and seeing better we can do things better Senior Executive Appointment and Performance a PNG experience is a significant attempt in lighting the lamp so that the country s public service can do better. It is an attempt to make those who are charged with implementing government s aspirations at the highest level more accountable. It is also attempt to remove nepotism at political levels when appointments of senior executives are made. We want to remove political interference and make the appointment and evaluation of performance of heads government agencies strictly on merit basis.

2 2 Background. The Public Service in Papua New Guinea continues to face major challenges. The public has growing expectation of the Public Service and the goods and service it produces. The nature of governance and politics in PNG is such that not only there is increasing expectations on the public servants; also there is more expectation from those who are entrusted with political mandates too. The upshot of this is that the pressure is mounted on the public servant to deliver so that the minister is seen to be fulfilling his mandates; as non delivery by the minister is viewed with cynicism. At Independence the government adopted a Public Services Management Act which made the Public Services Commission (PSC) a centre piece of the appointment system of the senior government bureaucrats. It followed that consultation and endorsement of the PSC was necessary for appointments, and conversely termination and removals. However some 15 years ago, this was viewed as an impediment by the politicians and unfortunately it resulted in the removal of the provisions relating to the Public Services Commission consultation. As you will appreciate, this led to continuous breakdown in public service governance and made the senior public servants directly susceptible to whimsical behavior of those who thought political mandate was a license to unethical hire and fire. This situation has now changed with the key and strategic amendments being made to the Public Service Management Act in These amendments focus strongly on meaningful consultation between the main players. In the case of the line and central agencies the principal players include the Chief Secretary, the Secretary for Personnel Management, the port folio Minister, the Minister for Public Service, the Cabinet and the Head of State. The appointment and termination of heads of Provincial Administrations include all the above except that the PSC is required to consult with the Governor and the Provincial Executive Council. The key and pivotal role here is that of the PSC, which carries the vetting power over appointments and termination. See the attached chart on the process However there are already moves to refine this new system because some aspects of it are proving very cumbersome. It is proposed now to remove political interference by highlighting the role the Chief Secretary as the Senior National Public Servant to be the person hire and fire agency heads.

3 At the heart of these changes is the determination that anyone who is qualified to hold public office and has a good track record is given a fair go. Conversely if discipline is necessary the public office holder is also given a fair go or to borrow a legal terminology he is judge on the basis rules of natural justice. Meanwhile the Public Service itself is being reformed to shift from a bureaucracy focused on managing its own people and funds to a system which is more focused on delivering goods and service to specified standards. That is why the proposed performance criteria include a number of benchmarks as follows: o Ensure that the agency operates within the law and well developed framework of principles, conventions and practice of public administration. o Provide a free and frank advice to the minister at all times ensuring that relationship is professional, productive and effective. o Display strong and effective personal and professional leadership. o Promotes and enhance high ethical values and stewardship in promoting the aspirations of the agency. o Actively participate in whole-of government initiatives o Ensure that the agency has a clear strategic direction o Comply with and adhere to statutory requirements. The proposed overall objectives are that these benchmarks will result in: o greater responsibilities and accountabilities of Departmental Heads, Provincial Administrators and Heads of Statutory Heads through a system of binding performance contracts of employments. o a collective approach in managing public service. o recognizing the need to formally and regularly reporting against targets o recognizing and rectifying poor performance by senior executives of the state Please note that much of the above are not new requirements. They already exist by law in one form or another. The above list is some of the array of benchmarks under current legislations related to public administration in the form of: o The Public Finances Management Act o The Public Services Management Act o The Public Service Regulations o The Public Service General Orders o The Public Service Code of Ethics and Business Conduct o The Leadership Code o The PNG Constitution. o The Prime Minister and National Executive Council Act 3

4 4 A new Performance Management System. There has been a number recent initiatives in the areas of performance management and planning aimed at addressing the problems highlighted above. Some of these initiatives reflect donor tranche conditions relating to timely release of donor funds which most often underpin the national budget. The most important of the initiatives relate to the development of a new performance management system aimed at enhanced performance by agency heads. It is an integral part of an HR management system for Departmental Heads, ranging from initial appointment to re-appointment and/or termination. The proposed planning and performance management system revolves around the following documents: a) A model Corporate Plan the agency s strategic direction b) A work Plan - the agency s statement of output c) An Annual Report - the agency s statement of attainment d) A performance contract the basis for senior executive performance against key performance indicators. e) Provincial Performance Reports reports on provincial service delivery f) Service Charters the standard and level of service that citizen can expect. The framework of the Performance Management System (PMS). The Public Services Management Act was amended in 2002 to provide for the PMS as follows: a) Performance Management is made the direct responsibility of the Central Agencies Coordinating Committee ( CACC) b) The CACC will make regular appraisal of departmental heads performance. These appraisal will be submitted by the Secretary for Personnel Management to the Public Services Commission (PSC) c) The PSC is required to take into account these reports when making appropriate recommendations for appointment, suspension and revocation of appointment of departmental heads. d) Standard criteria and procedures for regular appraisals of departmental heads are set out in Public Service Statutory Regulations No 5, 6 and 7 of The intention was to implement the new system fully with the Budget Year 2005; however it was more likely to be in place for the Budget Year It

5 is highly desirable to align the performance management arrangement with the budget cycle. The emphasis in the new system is on performance and the thinking is that those who are consistently in the habit of achieving results should be entrusted with privileges of public office. On the other hand, it is also thought that those who hold public office are not only performing but also are accountable for their actions or lack of it. Conclusion. Papua New Guinea is land of many contrasts with over 700 languages and close to 800 cultures. With a population of 5 million people, most whom live in the rural areas where the terrain is one of the harshest in the world, it is a daunting task for those have to implement and deliver basic goods and service. It is also very challenging for public administrators too when they are confronted with social and economic indicators in the South Pacific that definitely leaves a lot to be desired. A car company in PNG has and advertisement that promotes its sales of Toyota brand of vehicles. It says at the end jingle that when the going gets tough, the toughs go Toyota Well, it is our sincere hope that with the changes we are making to the appointment and management system covering public office holders, we will get tough on all the undesirable social and economic indicators that besets our country so we can achieve ways that should be respectful, equitable, participatory, inclusive, productive, and sustainable for a greater good of Papua New Guinea. 5