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Department of Personnel Management hosted a small but close gathering last Friday on the 24th of February to honor and celebrate the second anniversary of the life and death of Late Grand Chief Sir Michael T. Somare.

It was attended by Secretary Ms. Taies Sansan, members of the Executive Management team and staff of the department.

Speaking at the event, Ms. Sansan said that we have to honor our founding father and as our first Prime  Minister, we must acknowledge his contributions to our country that he gave birth to on  September 16, 1975.

She also challenged officers to think about their plans for this great nation and how they can contribute as individuals and as public servants to the nation building.

“Let us be good citizens, good public servants, do our work with honesty and pride, and let us deliver to the expectations as public servants that are paid fully by the government that never fails us. Service must come first and then money, be punctual to work, be a team player, don’t backbite one another, we are all Papua New Guineans let us all respect one another, respecting those in authority and respecting the government of the day” said Secretary Sansan.

In two year’s time we will be celebrating our fifty years as an independent nation and although we are still a developing nation since the formation of this country, where do we move from being a developing country to an emerging and hopefully to a developed country in the next fifty years, said Ms. Sansan.

The event was followed by the viewing of a slideshow of the life of the late founding father.

Staff were given the opportunity to share memories, events and encounters with the Late Grand Chief.

The second anniversary of late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare falls on the Sunday, the 26th of February this year, however, NEC in its decision No: 33, confirmed the 24th to be commemorated and celebrated as a national public holiday.

Department of Personnel Management Executive Management Team held its first EMT meeting for 2023 on the 20th of this month.

All Wings and branches have outlined its yearly work plans.

The Executive Resourcing Services Wing had a slow start due to New Year, but have advertised in the Newspapers a couple of position vacancies for the District CEOs and Provincial Administration positions.

More position vacancies will be advertised for the Acting positions in the coming months.

The Policy Wing gave a rundown of their work plans.

They will continue to work on the  Industrial Employment Condition response to the PNG doctor’s log of claims.

They’ll continue to maintain the three (3) per cent Salary increase policy, including the drafting of policy of the Public Service Standard Operations Manual, and power delegated to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

The Management Information System (MIS) branch are working in collaboration with the Civil Registry to develop a central data collection system.

This centralized data system will have each officer’s information from payroll number, to NID number and all their personal information.

The aim is to have a centralized data system so that it would be easy for payroll and new hires.

The MIS team are also upgrading the payroll version, which will help with the One Person, One Position, One Pay policy.

Meanwhile, EMT Members will sit for an urgent EMT meeting for the finalization of the 2023 Management Action Plan and realigning the five year Corporate Plan 2023 – 2027 before its launching.

Officers from Department of  Personnel Management Gender Equity and Social Inclusion branch for the Whole of Government have recently attended the Public Service Male Advocacy Network’s (MAN) first meeting of 2023, which was hosted by the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council (PM & NEC) this month.

It was chaired by Mr. Henry Masin, Director,  Human Resource Management (PM&NEC), and attended by male advocates from eight agencies.

These agencies are DPM, PM&NEC, Planning & Monitoring, Immigration & Citizenship Authority, Education Department, Bank of Papua New Guinea, National Maritime & Safety Authority, Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, and Department of Information, Communication and Technology.

The members had a focused and interactive group discussion and resolutions that were agreed and endorsed by the members on the way forward for PS MAN and Women in Leadership (WIL).

This includes the Monthly Agency awareness, Two Community awareness, Review of the PS MAN terms of reference, the Five-year action plan and the establishment of a working committee for the 20 days of human rights activism campaign.

Last year the Public Service Male Advocacy Network experienced some difficulties in implementation, network strengthening and creating fresh approaches to revive the network.

However, despite the challenges faced, the network had managed to implement some innovative solutions and have produced successful outcomes.

The GESI Whole of Government, PS MAN & WIL Branches have plans to  complete outstanding work from 2022 and create    innovative ways to build collaborative partnerships in PS MAN’s work within the public service and in the communities.

The PS MAN is one of the programs used to institutionalize the National Public Service (NPS) GESI Policy.

The main objective of the PS Male Advocates is to support their respective GESI Managers and officer’s in advocating on a voluntary basis on the women’s human rights and gender base violence against women and girls in the public service, as well as the males themselves.

The PS MAN consist of male public servants who have been identified and undergone intensive training in strategic and influential decision making roles as PS Male Advocates.

Secretary, Ms Taies Sansan who spoke on behalf of the bureaucrats and the 130, 000 plus public servants nation wide has joined the Prime Minister, Hon. James Marape in welcoming the review of Constitutional  Directive 4: Review of the Form and System of Government—Election  of the Prime Minister.

The review is being conducted by the Constitutional and Law Reform commission,.

The review includes;

· The three arms of Government,

· The  Election of the Prime Minister,

· The Composition of the Parliament,

· The three levels of government, and

· The Head of State; and other Constitutional Issues.

“I welcome this very important review by the Marape-Rosso Government, and on behalf of my colleague heads of agencies and provincial administrators, we are exited to see how this review can transform our systems and processes, and transform this country for the next 50 years of  nationhood”, Ms Sansan said.

She said 50 years of Independence is a long and memorable time to admit that there are real issues and challenges that have emerged and lingered over time.

“But a responsible leader and government will address this status quo and seek consensus among the people for a          concerted solution going forward, without detouring from achieving our ultimate goal as a nation,” she said.

Secretary Sansan said the form and system of government and the laws were adopted from the former colonizers, and its timely reviews and changes are made to set the pace for the next generation of leaders to lead the country forward.

“Again, I thank the current government for setting the vision and the agenda for everyone to take the queue from, including the bureaucratic leadership and the public servants”.

Behind every departmental heads is a hardworking personal assistant.

Ms Judith Balaia said working as a personal assistant for the Secretary of a Central Government agency that is responsible for all the Human Resources mandate and functions of the public service can be challenging and daunting at times, but for her, it has been nothing short of an interesting journey and a learning curve.

Hailing from Miline Bay Province, Judith joined DPM in 2008 as an Executive assistant to the Secretary, and has been working in the Office of the Secretary for a total of fifteen years, two years  under the leadership of former Secretary Late   Margaret Elias, eight years under another former Secretary, Mr. John Kali, and six years with our current Secretary, Ms. Taies Sansan.

“The job is challenging, but I enjoy it everyday because I am an assistant for a female Secretary. I am always glad that I am part of an office that is responsible for decision making”, she said.

“I have a passion for the job. That is why I am here at 7:45am every morning and finish off with the Secretary. I look forward to my daily tasks which includes, but are not limited to ensuring that the Secretary’s office is ready and set for meetings and appointments are confirmed apart from many others”, says Ms. Balaia.

She added that she feels obliged to deal with every correspondences that comes to the Secretary’s office and tries to assist in any way that she can because of the nature of the job and the office she’s in, which deals with the whole of government and the public service.

 “I am very cautious in making sure that things are running well and are in order, otherwise I refer them to the Secretary, the Executive Officer or the respective and appropriate wings to deal with the matters”, she said.

Ms. Balaia said that one of the things that she enjoys about her job is the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that she gets when a correspondence has been approved as per the directives from the Secretary.

“It is like team work, when the external documents comes in and the Secretary makes her decisions and gives directives and then are sent to the respective Deputies, Directors, Executive Managers, Managers and actions officers, and when the job is done, I always have this accomplishment feeling”, Ms Balaia said.

Some of the values that Ms. Balaia strives to uphold in her role as an assistant to a departmental head is the public service code of ethics, being properly attired for work, always be ready and willing to assist the external and internal clients that walk into the office and to always put God first in everything that she does.

Her advice to young people who would like to join the department and the public service as a whole is to be passionate about your job, be loyal and to abide by the  Public Service code of ethics.

She also urged new and young staff to do their jobs with dignity and diligence while striving and standing for the goals, aims and the missions of the department.

Department of Personnel Management through its GESI Policy and Implementation Strategy and Mainstreaming have revived the Women’s Netball team.

It used to be one of the sporting activity for female staff members that aims to promote physical activity and healthy living, but came to halt due to COVID-19.

It was revived early this year were officers in government departments come together to compete under the Public Sector Netball competition every Saturdays at the Rita Flynn Court in Port Moresby.

The netball competition runs annually and is an off-season competition, which runs from November to February.

Acting Manager GESI (Internal) Mrs. Mary Albaniel and team coach said that healthy living and lifestyle is one of the strategies that are used in Mainstreaming and is called “Life Balance”, which incorporates fitness, exercise and positive thinking.

“These strategies are used to help  officers who are workaholics so through this GESI policy of life balance, we encourage officers to take part in fitness activities” says Mrs. Albaniel.

She further encouraged DPM female officers to take part in this exercise and have some level of fitness in their daily  routine.

Ms Albaniel said since lifestyle diseases such as heart attack or stroke, High blood pressure and diabetes are some of the main killer diseases in PNG, all staff are encouraged to take part in sports or some kind of physical activities for fitness and healthy living.

All DPM female staff who are interested in the sport can give your names to team Captain, Ms Charleen Vere, Acting Senior Performance Management Officer, or Ms Albaniel.

The competition is held on  Saturdays and trainings are twice a week at PILAG basketball court.

So far twenty DPM female staff have submitted their names to join the team as player and officials.

The Department of Personnel Management met with the Vanuatu Public Service Commission (PSC) for a sister agency partnership visit yesterday.

The meeting was for the two agencies to share information and for Vanuatu PSC to learn the PNG Public Service procedures and processes, as the bigger brother in the Pacific.

DPM presented information on the Public Service Business Processes, Recruitment and Appointment Processes, Public Service General Order, Public Service (Management) Act 1995, Agency Heads Monitoring and Assessment processes such as the Online Performance Management System.

Secretary Ms Taies Sansan said, DPM and the Vanuatu PSC will sign a Memorandum of Understanding in future for job exchange program.

“We will be working on a ‘Job Exchange’ program and if both parties agree on this, public servants in PNG will be going on an exchange to Vanuatu and vice versa. Through this exchange program, Public Servants from both  countries can learn from each other to improve service delivery in these two countries”, Secretary Sansan said.

The Vanuatu delegation comprises of the Public Service Commission, Vanuatu Institute of Public Administration and Management (VIPAM) and Health and Education department.

They are in PNG on an arrangement with VIPAM and the Pacific Institute of Leadership and Governance (PILAG) after signing a MoU on 12 February, 2021 between the two institutions for PILAG to design and develop two training courses, specifically tailored to meet the capacity needs of the Vanuatu National Public Service.

The two courses are;

1.Executive Diploma of Leadership & Governance (EDLG), and  

2. Certificate in Local Government Administration (CLGA).

Acting Chairlady of the Pacific Institute of Leadership and Governance (PILAG) board and Department of Personnel Management Secretary, Ms. Taies Sansan, welcomed the Vanuatu Institute of Public Administration (VIPAM) official’s 5-day visit to PILAG early this month.

Ms Sansan acknowledged the significance of the visit, an important national and regional collaboration between the two State institutions, and two Melanesian countries for public sector capacity training.

She said PNG stands ready to assist Pacific countries especially Vanuatu and Solomon Islands in the region.

“We know that PILAG is the only mandated school of governance in Papua New Guinea that is authorized by law to design, develop and deliver the public sector capacity training to the 130,000 public servants in Papua New Guinea since 1963,” said Ms. Sansan

She added, “significant milestone changes that have happened at PILAG such as the revised PILAG Act 2017, which was previously known as the IPA Act,  PILAG restructure and recruitment and the PILAG Online Teaching”.

An MOU that was signed on the 12th February 2021 between the two institutions has enabled PILAG to designed and develop two training courses that is specifically tailored to meet the capacity needs of the Vanuatu National Public Service, the two courses are Executive  Diploma of Leadership & Governance (EDLG) and Certificate in Local Government Administration (CLGA).

Therefore, the VIPAM delegation was here to provide representatives that will be reviewing and proving critique on two new courses, observe first-hand and critique the online delivery platform that will be used to offer these trainings meanwhile   visiting relevant agencies of PNG  government to discuss matters of mutual interest and finally to strengthen the bilateral partnership that exists between PILAG and VIPAM .

It was good news for public servants nation-wide with the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Personnel Management and the Public Service Employees Association to have a 3 per cent increase to the salary of the 128, 000 public servants in the country.

DPM Secretary, Ms Taies Sansan said  the MoA has paved way for the implementation of the increment commencing January 1st, 2022 to December 31st, 2024.

“DPM will work closely with the Department of Treasury and Finance Department to commence the implementation immediately,” she said.

Secretary Sansan commended the Marape-Rosso government for recognizing and rewarding public servants in allocating K42 Million in the 2022 Supplementary budget that was recently passed in Parliament.

She said the Government requires a return on investment and has urged public servants that with the improved terms and conditions of employment, they have to improve their performance to deliver effective and efficient services.

“This same call is echoed every year to public servants. I want to call on all heads of government agencies including Provincial Administrators to monitor your staff and ensure they are at work to deliver what is expected of them in their key result areas,” she said.

 Secretary Sansan also applauded PEA for understanding the effect caused by Covid-19 pandemic, and for the Department to ensure there was harmonious industrial relations in the Public Service to avoid service disruption.

At the same time reducing their expectations on the annual wage   increase by the unions.

PEA in their log of claims have requested for a 7.5 % General Salary Increase and Medical Life Insurance.

NEC has approved the increment to be 3 per cent, and have approved the National Medical and Life Insurance Policy and the establishment of the Public Service Board of Trustees to manage the Policy.

The Department of Personnel Management’s HR Advisory and Compliance team have signed and issued the Deed of Release for the long serving Public Servants at the Department of Finance this month.

 This has seen 28 public servants who have received their Deed of Releases, and are waiting to be paid out on the 4th Retirement Batch of 2022 under the Public Service Retirement Exercise.

Among the 28 public servants are five senior public servants who will retire at the end of this year.

National Agency Director, Ms Roselyn Wrakuavia said the retirement exercise is a continued exercise by the Government through DPM for public servants who have reached the compulsory retirement age of 65 or wish to voluntarily retire after 60 years old, or on medical grounds.

She said a K200 Million was appropriated for the 2022 retirement exercise in the national budget.

“With the senior officers retiring, there would be huge gaps in terms of knowledge and experience,” she said.

She is urging young officers to work closely with senior officers and understudy them for institutional knowledge sharing.

Ms Wrakuavia and her team have identified minor problems from agencies HR Divisions which has prompted delay for DPM to make calculations.

She is appealing to their finance and HR to consult with DPM prior to sending the necessary details in for calculations in-order to do justice to them and make them retire and go home happy.