‘Contracts are no more’
the President, Ratu Wiliame Katonivere, approved the nomination. Other members of the PSC are Mereseini Baleilevuka, Avi Raju, Nesbitt Hazelman, Mahmood Khan and Vilitati Mataitini.
The members met for the first time in Suva yesterday, with one member joining in virtually from Auckland.
“Principally, we discussed the permanent appointment of civil servants moving away from contractual appointments,” Mr Rokovada said. “The coalition Government had all agreed in their manifestos to do away with contractual appointments.
“So, we had agreed today with permanent appointments and that decision is going to cabinet for ratification and approval by hopefully next week.
“Once that is endorsed, the only people that will be on contractual appointments are permanent secretaries. The rest will be on permanent appointments.”
Mr Rokovada also said the permanent appointments would not necessarily apply to those who would be employed to projects, or with limited duration or short duration of work.
“For those, that will be at the discretion of the permanent secretaries because they are the employing authority whether to employ on short-term contracts or temporary basis.”
Mr Rokovada said the Prime Minister and Minister responsible for Civil Service would be briefed first before the commission took steps to implement the decisions made yesterday.
He also said the civil service would undergo a significant re-alignment to effectively implement new policy initiatives and work programme activities of The People’s Allianceled Coalition Government.
Mr Rokovada’s background
Mr Rokovada hails from Vunivaivai Village, in the tikina of Nakelo in the province of Tailevu. He retired from the civil service 14 years ago after serving a colourful 44 years in government.
His career in the civil service began in February 1964 where he worked as a clerical officer with the Public Works Department (PWD). “I worked for the Civil Service for about 44 years until I ended my career in the service in the beginning of 2008,” Mr Rokovada said. “Before I retired, I was a Permanent Secretary for 12 years in Government for various ministries. I started in Commerce and Trade, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Youth and Sports and finally in Health where I spent the bulk of my time as Permanent Secretary - eight years. I was PS Health and I finished in the beginning of 2004.” After his Permanent Secretary role, he was posted to India as a High Commissioner in India in 2004 until the beginning of 2008. He was the first resident High Commissioner to India.
“I was then recalled back to Fiji in 2008 by the former administration and since then have been doing some small assignments here and there,” he said.
He is the current district representative of Nakelo district with his term coming to an end next month.
He served under the leadership of four Prime Ministers during his 12 years in a Permanent Secretary role.
“When I was appointed in the Permanent Secretary role Ratu Mara was the Prime Minister that was in 1992. When Ratu Mara finished in 1992, Mr Rabuka became Prime Minister and I had then served under his leadership. I also served with Mr Mahendra Chaudhry when he became Prime Minister in 1999, he finished a year later and then I served with Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.”
He was bestowed with an Independence Commemorative medal for his service to the country during the 50th Anniversary of Fiji’s Independence celebration.