By Dorah Gawi

23/11/22

The Public Services Commission (PSC) took part in the Public Service Induction program for four (4) Officers of the Office of Censorship this morning at the Sanctuary Hotel in Port Moresby.

The team from PSC included the Director of the National Review Division Mr. Joshua Ngawi, Principal Assessment Officer Mr. Timothy Waringe, and Principal Investigator Mrs. Ravugera Ginis.

The presentation surrounded the roles and functions of the Public Services Commission regarding Personnel Review Matters, assessment of the appointment function, and investigation with emphasis on the rights of permanent public servants and what administrative services are offered at the PSC.

The team also stressed the importance of understanding the legislations that relate to their employment as employees of the public service like the National Constitution, Public Services (Management) Act 1995 (as amended), Public Service General Orders, and other important legislations.

The inductees were able to ask questions to gain insight into some grey areas that they were not familiar with in regard to processes and procedures of the public service.

PSC commended the Office of Censorship for carrying out this very important program for their new hires adding that the induction program is a mandatory requirement for all public servants to undertake as instills a sense of pride in the mission and values of the public service and equips new officers with the foundational understanding of the processes and procedures within their organization and that of the National Public Service as well.

Our 1st QTR Newsletter is available now for public viewing. Clink on the link below and read all about what’s happening at PSC on PSC Today.

2/11/2022

By Nadia Marai

The PSC Anti-Corruption & Integrity Committee made an appearance on NBC’s Morning Talk-Show hosted by radio personality Mr. Stephen Mase.

The Committee that included the Team Leader by Mr. David Hanaromo (Director Investigations), Ms. Rachael Wii (Director Assessment) and Ms. Dorah Gawi (Principal Media & Publication Officer) were accompanied along-side the Transparency International PNG’s Project Lead for the PAIS program Miss. Daera Ganiga.

The committee spoke about how PSC’s Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy was developed as well as highlighting the four (4) Key Objectives and eight Key Priority Areas to be implemented.

When asked about how this initiative came about, Mr. Hanaromo stressed that PSC stands committed to promote good governance, and have therefore taken part in numerous anti-corruption programs. PSC has said has also provided a platform for other organizations like the Department of Finance to roll out its Phones Against Corruption program through the PSC Awareness Program so when we were approached by TIPNG to develop an Anti-Corruption Strategy at the agency level, the Commission was more than happy to sign the MoU with Transparency International PNG .

‘’At PSC we promote good governance and we believe in good governance and so when TIPNG reached out we saw that as an opportunity to practice what we stand for. At times we have allegations that are raised against our officers for receiving bribes or engaging in corrupt activities so we saw that as an opportunity for us to use that platform to address those issues and in a way that can also be an avenue for us to properly address those complaints”, said Mr. Hanaromo.

Furthermore Ms Wii spoke about the eight key priority areas which will further address the four key objectives as captured in the strategy.

‘’The eight key priority areas includes; setting up of the corruption complaints desk to manage corruption complaints, enforcing the Public Service Management Act and the Public Service Ethics & Code of Conduct, improving compliance in mandatory functions and requirements of the PSC ,promoting and strengthening honest leadership, ensuring compliance and manageability of the finance management system, strengthening accountability and oversight, strengthening public awareness of PSC’s core function and to further strengthen coordination and partnership with PSC stakeholders.

Ms. Gawi also mentioned how the strategy will be rolled out, making mention of the various platforms that will be utilized to implement this strategy.

‘” The PSC Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy will be rolled through the PSC Awareness Program, hopefully by next year, depending on funding. The onus here is to inform the public about our stance against corruption and about how anyone for that matter can report issues of corruption that they cite officers of the PSC taking part in, we have provided platforms through our Facebook page, PSC enquires email and LinkedIn and in addition we also have a complaints box that will be placed at the reception area where anyone can come in and drop an anonymous tip or lay a complaint every complaint will be taken seriously’’ said Ms Gawi.

Miss. Ganiga from TIPNG spoke about their effort in advocating for a corruption free country and its assistance towards helping government agencies like PSC, develop and implement strategies to fight corruption at their respective levels.

“So far there has been a total of five agencies within the public service that have signed MoU’s to develop their agency’s Anti-Corruption strategy, and only two (2) have launched their strategies, PSC is the second, after the National Economic & Fiscal Commission launched theirs in June, 2022”, said Miss. Ganiga.

The Public Services Commission is serious about its stance against corruption and would be implementing its Anti-Corruption and Integrity Strategy 2022-2025 to address corruption its level as an agency of integrity.

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2/11/2022

By Nadia Marai

The Public Services Commission of Papua New Guinea was pleased to host its Melanesian counterpart, the Public Services Commission of Vanuatu in an important meeting held yesterday at the Commission’s office at Waigani attended by the Chairman of PSC in PNG Mr. Apeo Fuata Sione together with Commissioner National Ms. Judith Stenis, Commissioner Provincial Mr. Joseph Aka, Secretary, PSC Secretariat Mr. Terence Tupi and Senior Management Committee.

The delegation from PSC Vanuatu included Secretary PSC Mr. James Melteres and VIPAM Chairman and Executive Officer of the Ministry of Youth Sport Development Mr. Rex Tandak who are part of a visiting delegation from the Government of Vanuatu currently in PNG to review and validate courses under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Pacific Institute of Leadership & Governance (PILAG).

Secretary Melteres in the meeting highlighted the differences between the two (2) Commissions and added that PSC Vanuatu is here to learn and adopt some best practices, particularly the Merit Based Appointment Process used by PSC PNG in the

recommendation of appointments of Departmental Heads. Furthermore, he stressed the need for Constitutional bodies to carry out their roles and functions without political interference.

Another important agenda that was discussed was to have PSC PNG work in collaboration with other public service agencies in the Pacific region for organizations to learn from each other and perform their roles more efficiently and effectively.

The meeting was particularly to establish and improve existing partnerships between the two organizations in the Pacific and to foster a greater bilateral and multi-cultural understanding and corporation in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (PSG).

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1/11/2022

By Nadia Marai

‘The Public Services Commission (PSC) is serious about its Anti-corruption stance; therefore, we have aligned ourselves to other institutions of integrity who are promoters of good governance and are at the forefront in the fight against corruption. Organizations like TIPNG, ICAC and Ombudsmen Commission among other institutions of integrity.

We are focused on restoring confidence and trust in our decisions and recommendations and to uphold our Mission which is to promote a highly competent, non-partisan and representative Public Service that is based on the values of fairness, integrity, transparency, accountability and accessibility’.

These were the sentiments shared by the Chairman of the Public Services Commission Mr Apeo Fuata Sione, during the launch of the Public Services Commission Anti-Corruption and Integrity strategy on Friday the 28th of October, 2022.

PSC’s Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy was developed as a result of a partnership with Transparency International PNG in October 2021, and is the Commission’s first Anti-Corruption Strategy at the agency level, that is home grown and is specifically tailored for PSC.

‘’Through our partnership with TIPNG, the Public Services Commission was able to develop a Strategy containing four (4) Key Objectives and eight Key Priority Areas for implementation. The four Key Objectives are ‘Promoting and Strengthening Honest Leadership in PSC; Ensuring Compliance and Accountability in PSC; Fostering an Anti-Corruption Culture in PSC; and Building Capacity and maintaining effective people management systems’’.

‘’What PSC expects to achieve from the Strategy is a strong culture that values, promotes and rewards honesty and ethical leaders; that the compliance and enforcement of PSC’s decisions within the mandatory time-frame are strengthened; internal mechanisms to detect and counter fraud and misappropriation are strengthened ; that corruption complaints against our staff involving bribery, extortion and conflict-of interest are clearly identified and addressed efficiently and effectively within the time-frame of 30 Days, which is an internal process specifically developed to address allegations of corruption complaints both internally and externally that will be managed through the Anti-Corruption & Complaints Desk which has been created through this strategy. It means the Commission can now take action on its staff, even refer them to relevant authorities if need be, regardless of the alleged complaint made’’ said Mr Sione.

He stressed that the reality in PNG is that our people have lost confidence in the systems of governance within the Public Service, therefore the onus is upon us here today to convince the people of Papua New Guinea whom we serve, that the fight against corruption is still worthwhile, and starts with organizations like the Public Services Commission.

Mr. Sione also took the opportunity to acknowledge the support of TIPNG, Square Circle Australia and PSCs Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy Committee Mr David Hanaromo, Ms Racheal Wii and Ms Dorah Gawi for their immense contributions in developing this strategy.

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1/11/2022

The Public Services Commission in partnership with the Transparency International (TIPNG) successfully launched its agency level Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy on Friday 28th October, 2022.

Chief Executive Officer of TIPNG Ms. Arianne Kassman commended the Public Services Commission for this milestone achievement towards the state’s efforts in achieving the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020-2030.

‘’On this occasion we celebrate the dedication and effort of the Commission in developing your first agency-level anti-corruption strategy. This commitment speaks to the importance the Commission places on ensuring that it is fully equipped to fulfil its mandated functions. As Chairman Sione rightfully states in the foreword, the strategy we are launching today is home grown and specifically tailored for the Public Services Commission.

“We at TIPNG fully support the key objectives of the strategy, notably the fostering of an anti-corruption culture in PSC. The PSC in the Strategy identifies that it has a moral obligation to perform its role free of corruption, and this ethos should be shared across all state agencies in PNG,” said Ms Kassman.

This initiative was made possible by TIPNG with funding from the European Union, through the Promoting Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategies (PAIS) Project. The overall objective of this project is to strengthen public trust in state agencies.

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Thursday 29^th September 2022

The Department of Personnel Management (DPM) in collaboration with the Department of Information, Communication & Technology hosted a joint Digital Human Resource Transformation Forum at the APEC Haus in Port Moresby on Monday the 26^th of September to disseminate information on critical ICT Policy Reforms to the HRM and ICT fraternity in the National Public Service.

The key objective of this initiative was to inform all Human Resource Management and ICT Units in the public service of the Digital HRM Transformation Roadmap the DICT, which is in collaboration with DPM.

Minister for Public Service Hon. Joe Sungi, MP, who spoke at the opening of the forum expressed the need for all Government Human Resources Business processes to be digitalized to be on par in today’s modern era.

“We have to prioritize human resources as there has been a lack of information and unreliable data on manpower that needs to be improved over public servants’ performances,” he said.

Minister Sungi said little attention had been paid to the Human Resource Divisions which needs to be revived to ensure they keep track of all public servants’ level of competence and commitment in the office.

“The Human Resource Divisions need to do away with paperwork because this is the time to use the digitalized and online systems so that we can create publication forms, conduct online recruitment, and track performances and recommend reward or punishment accordingly. Information Technology’s intervention can improve the public service, modernize the public service systems, introduce automation and digitalize HR business processes to generate rich information for good decision-making”, said Minister Sungi.

He further added that this is a development project for DPM in the information technology space which is in line with the forum’s theme Driving digital HR transformation through strategic leadership.

The Digital HR Transformation Forum is to advocate for the digitalization of the Public Service General Orders and automation of all associated HRM business processes.

Ends//

Senior Legal Officer, Ms. Fiona Yandi from the Public Services Commission was among forty-four (44) other women from both the private and public sectors who graduated with certificates in Leadership & Management from the Business Coalition for Women Leadership.

Ms. Yandi’s participation was made possible with financial assistance from the Australian Government through the Australian Awards which have also supported 28 other female Public Servants.

The graduation saw the combination of Cohorts 15, 16, & 17 celebrate the achievement of 45 emerging female leaders who completed the Business Coalition for Women (BCFW) 6 months certificate course that aims to meet specific PNG industry needs and is designed to develop leadership and managerial skills of women in the workforce who have the potential to take up supervisory or managerial posts.

When initially taking up the course Ms. Yandi said given the fact that we are a Melanesian society people tend to think women lack the capabilities to take up managerial positions in organizations but if only we could break that barrier, we will see a lot more women moving up to top positions.

Ms. Yandi is now equipped with good managerial and leadership skills and looks forward to implementing the skills and knowledge gained from this course in her line of duty.

Since its inception in 2015, over 300 women from 70 organizations representing a diversity of industries have graduated from the Coalition’s Certificate IV in Leadership.

‘’The Coalition is the go-to resource for gender equality and our solutions, which are tailor-made for PNG’s corporate sector, and helps businesses understand the value that their female staff brings to the company. The Certificate IV Leadership & Management Course helps businesses develop and reap the benefits of having gender diversity in their leadership in team’’ explained Evonne Kennedy who is the BCFW Executive.

The Public Services Commission continues to support the up-skilling of its officers to help them to perform their duties more effectively and efficiently and also allows officers to grow into managerial roles in the Commission offering equal opportunities for both men and women.

Ends//