‘We hope to brief the PM before end of next week’
PUBLIC Service Commission chair Luke Rokovada says he hopes to brief Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka before the end of next week on the recall of ambassadors and high commissioners from overseas missions.
Speaking to this newspaper on Friday, he also said only ambassadors and high commissioners would be recalled and not embassy or high commission staff.
“We hope to brief the PM before the end of next week on the recall of ambassadors/high commissioners — the names of replacements are the prerogative of the PM,” Mr Rokovada said.
At a media conference on Thursday, the PM said all ambassadors and high commissioners in overseas missions would be recalled and replacements would be made but could not give a timeframe until he was briefed by the PSC chair.
Mr Rabuka, in his position as PM and Constitutional Offices Commission chair nominated Mr Rokovada, retired teacher and former Free Bird Institute CEO Mereseini Baleilevuka, and Rewa chief and Rewa Provincial Council chair Ro Vilitati Mataitini to the PSC.
Opposition Leader Voreqe Bainimarama’s nominees are FijiCare executive director Avi Raju and business executive Nesbitt Hazelman.
A member of the previous PSC Mahmood Khan has refused to resign.
Mr Rokovada said Mr Khan was “alright as a commissioner and we have no problem working with him”.
When asked if the equal numbers from Government and the opposition could become an issue during decision making, he said “we’ll cross the bridge when we come to it. We don’t expect any real problems.”
Meanwhile, Parmesh Chand was appointed the new acting permanent secretary of Civil Service and Public Enterprises and Susan Kiran has been moved to the Cabinet Office as Secretary to Cabinet.