Africa-Press – Seychelles. The focus of the Public Service Bureau, formerly department of administration (DPA), will be on oversight and modernisation, its newly appointed chief secretary Shella Mohideen has said.
In a press conference this week, Mrs Mohideen said that there have been certain changes since her appointment in the post onFebruary 1, 2022.
She said that the bureau will no longer be ‘administering’ but instead it will be ‘overseeing’ and ‘modernising’.
“This is line with certain ongoing reforms in government,” she said, noting that “there has been a lot of administering in the past and we feel that this is the time to modernise”.
The chief secretary stated that with modernisation, a body must take on an oversight role to ensure that modernisation takes place within a certain framework and that it brings about benefits in the public service.
She added that this will be done in close collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning & Trade as well as all other ministries.
The department of Information Communications Technology (DICT) and the Public Service Bureau will lead the way in the digitalisation of the country, she said.
A tool called ‘Result-based Management’ will be used to ensure that the bureau can evaluate the results and ensure that activities being carried out are bringing about the desired results.
If certain activities being implemented are not producing the expected results, an appraisal will be conducted and remedial action taken.
Organisations will now have to justify reasons for their budget and the results it aims to achieve.
The bureau also aims to bring in more technology in the government sector and from there the bureau will oversee and monitor if these bring about the desired results.
Mrs Mohideen stated that there will be a significant transition period to ensure proper structure and noted that many aspects will be decentralised.
One key aspect is that DPA was performing many human resource (HR) functions and this is where they will have to work with the ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that their HR sections are ready to perform their duties ‘independently’ with the support of the Public Service Bureau.
The chief secretary acknowledged that at the moment everyone has a role in the bureau and this will assist in the decentralisation.
In this decentralisation process, all ministries, departments and agencies will need to have a strategic plan that is in line with their mandate and national priority.
The bureau will then ensure that the structure of the ministry, department or agency is the right structure for their objectives.
Once this is approved and finance has given the budget for the positions, the ministry, agency or department will have no need to return to the bureau requesting permission to recruit.
Expressing her appreciation of the general public’s understanding and support thus far, Mrs Mohideen however noted that change and progress will take time in coming.
She noted that her focus is on her strategic role to ensure that change and progress are seen in the transformation of public service.
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