Theme: “Service to the public”

Dear Colleagues in the public service

It gives me great pleasure to address you again this year, the second year that we commemorate Public Service Day in the Seychelles public service, which is commemorated under the theme “Service to the public”.
This theme embodies the fact that public services are the windows through which people view government and we have a vested interest to work together to provide the best possible public services and in so doing improve the quality of life of the Seychellois people. The government has set as one of its highest priorities the need to drive up standards and deliver real improvements in our public services. It is central to our agenda.
There can be no doubt of the quality of the public service in this country and we should celebrate that fact. But we should equally recognize that there is room for improvement. In a survey last year, to evaluate the public’s satisfaction with government services, 63% of the public indicated that they were satisfied with the services we provide.
The major source of frustration for the public is the fact that they are made to wait too long for any service; the public told us that we needed to provide services in a timelier manner. The public acknowledges that we face challenges in meeting their needs but they would still like to see real improvements in services, higher standards and full accountability. And they deserve no less. The results of the survey have provided government information to drive through a comprehensive programme to address the issue of service delivery.

PSO review
One of the first steps is the need to get our systems and structures right. We are in the process of reviewing the Public Service Orders with a view to delegating more authority to organizations with a corresponding increase in accountability whilst promoting the basic public service principles of fairness and consistency. The first part of the exercise should be completed by the end of this year. The revised framework should reduce bureaucracy and thereby enhance timeliness and effectiveness in service delivery. The challenge now facing public sector organisations is to capitalise on the flexibility to be afforded to deliver improvements that are noticed and appreciated.

Seychelles Public Service Awards
People who work for government should be recognised for showing diligence and dedication to the ethos of work, honesty, integrity while maintaining ethical standards in dealing with the public at large. In this regard, we are launching a public service awards scheme this year using the theme “service to the public”. The awards are specifically to encourage service excellence and best practices in the public sector. It is an initiative that serves not only to bolster good governance but also to promote and perpetuate the culture of proper checks and balances that represents the foundation of good governance and the true spirit of service delivery.
I wish to call on our partners in the private sector to come forward and support this initiative. You should view sponsorship of this award as a worthy corporate social investment, aimed precisely at improving the public-private sector partnership that is crucial to the economic growth and stability of this country. As our partners, you should be convinced that it is in your best interest to promote and foster a spirit of service excellence in government services. We believe that service excellence and service delivery, both of high and uncompromising standards, is bound to boost investor confidence.
The awards are fashioned so that all entries are winners in that organisations will receive feedback on how best to improve submissions. The criteria for the awards reflect excellence in the organisational processes that are now well recognised as being key attributes for success in any organisation. These attributes have become more important than ever before, in the more interconnected and fast changing environment that all organisations now face. Organisations have to be more nimble, innovative and focused on quality if they are to deliver against the sharply rising public expectations.
They have to develop organisational cultures that enable them to question what they do continually, and find better ways of doing things.
I hereby extend an invitation to all entities within the public service, be it ministries, departments, agencies and teams to enter the awards and show your commitment to service excellence. I wish to call on Chief Executives to encourage your staff to enter the awards and to receive the recognition they deserve for putting customers first through service excellence

Code of conduct and ethics
Today, I would like to acknowledge the dedication, hard work and high ethical standards that I know drive the majority of public service employees. Our commitment to values and ethics is a cornerstone to modern public management.
I believe the new Code of Ethics and Conduct which came into effect on Public Service Day last year is a decisive step in this direction. The code makes explicit the core values at the heart of the public service, values such as honesty, excellence and integrity.
The code is about reinforcing the good behaviour of the many, not simply punishing the poor behaviour of the few. In its simplest terms, it means acting at all times, in a way that can bear the closest public scrutiny and it applies to everyone, managers and staff.

Chief Executives must make plans to communicate the contents of the code to all their staff. We must ensure that all employees receive a copy of the code and understand how it applies to them. Each new public servant must be given a copy and reminded that following the code is a condition of employment.
Indeed, our experience recently indicates that we cannot take public service values for granted. Yet we often do.

Conclusion
To conclude I wish to reiterate that the future environment for public service delivery is one of change and this will be a challenging environment for all of us.
This government is determined to transform public services. But we must not lose sight of the final user in all of this. Services must reflect the public’s needs. We must place their needs and expectations at the heart of our public service culture.
But real and lasting improvement will require fundamental changes to working methods. It will require cultural change at all levels - new attitudes to working and dealing with organisations and the public.
So my closing message to you today is be positive and proactive, constantly seek out new methods and solutions and see them through to a conclusion. Be aware of the need to innovate. That way you will be able to deliver the world class services that people expect and deserve.

Have a happy Public Service Day!