Fiji: Five new Permanent Secretaries Appointed

This may not seem a particularly significant announcement —and I may be reading too much into it— but the track record, portfolios, ethnicity and likely appeal of the appointees suggest the PSC, and Government, are heeding lessons from the 2018 election. -- ACW.   #FijiPol

pn278

By Iva Danford in Fiji Live. Saturday 23/02/2019

Five new Permanent Secretaries have been appointed by the Public Service Commission with the agreement of the Prime Minister.

Jennifer Poole who currently leads Medical Services Pacific has been appointed as the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation

The Public Service Commission says Poole has a strong and proven track record of leadership in civil society and development organisations and started her career as a program coordinator with Care Australia and was later posted to Bosnia where she delivered UN funded construction and aid projects. 

Manasa Lesuma who is the current CEO of the National Fire Authority is now the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Defence and National Security.

Lesuma was previously the Deputy Secretary for Operations in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

Josefa Caniogo has been appointed as the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources. Caniogo has been UNDP’s country coordinator for the Development of Minerals Program for the past three years.

The new Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Local Government is Jovilisi Suveinakama who spent two years as a Solicitor in Fiji having been admitted to the High Court of Fiji and later the Supreme Court of Samoa.  From 2003 to 2017 Suveinakama was an Advisor, and then the General Manager and Coordinator of Tokelau’s National Public Service.  He completed his work in Tokelau in 2017 and returned home to Fiji where he has been working with and advising his indigenous land‑owning unit in the Suva area on their strategic plan and its implementation.

Taitusi Vakadravuyaca is the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Disaster Management and Meteorological Services. Vakadravuyaca is a civil engineer with relevant experience in Fiji’s land and water resource management groups, and in the transition from the National Roads group to the Fiji Roads Authority (FRA).

In addition to his work in land and water resource management he was Project Civil Engineer for FEA’s Nadarivatu Hydropower Project.   He currently shares acting CEO responsibility of the Water Authority of Fiji.

All five of the newly announced Permanent Secretaries are Fijian citizens.