Sector goals to be tied to Dept head contracts

By MATTHEW VARI

Wednesday, October 29, 2014 (Midweek Chronicle, PNG)

IN its bid to achieve it set plans under Vision 2050 plan, and the PNG Development Strategic Plan (PNGDSP 2010-2030), through the five year Medium Term Development Plans (MTDPs) of various government departments- the government, through the Prime Minister’s Department and the Department of National Planning are working on mechanisms to tie in sectoral goals into the contracts of departmental heads.

Speaking at a presentation to the media attending the 2014 Economic Policy Analysis Course at the National Research Institute, Deputy Secretary for National Planning and Monitoring, Joe Kapa, said that a working committee set up under the PMs department to build in sector goals to ensure targets are met.

Mr Kapa spoke of the importance in maintaining the momentum that the country was experiencing, in terms of the economic developments taking place.

He said in that way key implementers of departments will be held accountable for the outputs and outcomes of their roles as the machinery of government.

“It will now not only be about running a department, but it will also be about delivering what is required during the time set out to do,” Kapa said.

Kapa added that they were slowly getting to the implementation stages of the new requirements to be set in place for goals under the five year plans to be tied in with the contractual obligations of future departmental heads in the lead up to achieving the 2030 goals.

“The PNG Development Strategic Plan is the first home grown long term plan the country has developed that is working effectively,” he said.

He hailed the Free Education Policy as an indicator of a goal of the plan coming to fruition, however admitted that a lot was still yet to be done.

“This is why it is important for us to ensure the public service works and the MTDP 2011-2015 is about to end in 2015, we are evaluating how much we have achieved.”

The MTDP provides the clarity and justifies resources for sectoral plans, strategies, programs, investment, and activities.

It calls for performance in terms of delivering the desired results and should promote a performance-based culture throughout the public service system.

It will impinge on institutional restructuring and alignment to achieve the set deliverable targets, and tie in contracts of heads of agencies to perform.

This also provides the basis for effective monitoring of sectoral performance by the Department of National Planning and Monitoring and others on governance issues.