ROBIN STILL FLYING HIGH. Robin Nair, the former Ambassador to United Arab Emirates, is now the new Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs

19/4/2016

FINAL FOUR PERMANENT SECRETARIES ANNOUNCED4/19/2016

The Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Mr. Vishnu Mohan, has announced the appointment of four new Permanent Secretaries following a rigorous recruitment and selection process.

The four successful candidates are:

1. Ms. Makereta Konrote – Permanent Secretary for Finance
2. Mr. Ravindran Robin Nair – Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs
3. Ms. Salaseini Daunabuna – Permanent Secretary for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations
4. Ms. Bernadette Welch – Permanent Secretary for The Civil Service
Of the four new appointees, two are currently in Acting Permanent Secretary roles, one is a Fijian diplomat and one is an Australian expatriate.

Ms. Makereta Konrote is the Acting Permanent Secretary for Finance and has spent 17 years working in the Ministry of Finance. She is acknowledged as an expert in economic planning and financial policy analysis.

Mr. Ravindra Robin Nair is the former Fiji Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. He has had a lengthy career as a diplomat for both Fiji and Australia and has a proven track record of improving Fiji’s standing on the global stage.

Ms. Salaseini Daunabuna is the Acting Permanent Secretary for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations. She has spent 10 years working in the Attorney-General’s office on employment related issues and has also served as the Government Advisor to the ILO Governing Bodies and Conferences.

Ms. Bernadette Welch is the former Head of Operations for Australia’s G20 Task Force and oversaw the G20 meeting of world leaders in Brisbane in 2014. She is an experienced Australian public servant with broad experience in a number of complex roles.

Mr. Mohan said the candidates had been chosen after thorough reviews and assessments by the Australian Company NGS Global Pty Ltd. The PSC is confident they are capable of serving proficiently in their respective roles.

The four appointments have been made by the Public Service Commission under section 126 (1) (a) of 2013 Constitution, with the agreement of the Prime Minister.

14 Comments

Vili

19/4/2016 12:11:36 pm

Good call.

Who else should be PSFA?

Indians have always complained about being excluded under Frank's regime. They cant complain now!

Pita

19/4/2016 12:23:53 pm

Major Isikeli Mataitonga?
Ratu Caviilati
Amens Yauvoli
Peter Thomson
Dr Rajesh Chandra
Yogesh Punta
There are heaps of people who can do the job

King Rat

21/4/2016 08:27:15 am

Yogesh Punta?

Who is that and what are his qualifications for the job?

Vili

22/4/2016 11:36:24 am

Hey King Rat,

This fellow Pita is a fraud. He listed Rajesh Chandra as a potential PSFA, yet there is another article on this site shows Rajesh up as a bully!!!

It shows that Pita's arse does the talking for him, not his brain.

Pita cant even explain who 'Rajesh Punta' is and cant even explain his qualifications for the PSFA post!

Just proves that Pita is a 'lurker' on this site with no local knowledge.

We need to be careful of frauds like Pita on this site.

Vinaka

19/4/2016 12:25:35 pm

Robin Nair is a very competent man. There will be none better than him. Congratulations.

Welcome Home

19/4/2016 12:59:29 pm

The 'heaps of people' so called would find it difficult to emulate the attainments of this particular PSFA. They are uncommon and should afford Fiji at long last an opportunity to make headway on many fronts.

Chiku

19/4/2016 10:29:34 pm

Tell me mada how hard was it for the Australian company hired to screen and select candidates for the position to select Robin Nair who is a Bainimarama -Khaiyum dictatorship lackey?
Why spent much needed Fijian money on an Australian company to go through such rigmarole ?

Rajend Naidu

20/4/2016 12:27:58 am

Editor,
substandard advisers
In his letter by that title A.Whiddett ( ct 19/04 ) makes the very perceptive observation that " Having mates and political toadies as advisers is a sure way of instilling in a politician a dangerous sense of infallibility, an intolerance of contrary opinions, and contempt for the public".
I think many people who have been keenly following Fiji politics since the Bainimarama takeover know precisely what Mr Whiddett means.
I take it no elaboration is necessary.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Genius

20/4/2016 02:50:08 am

Robin is very experienced and qualified diplomat. Esala is very new to service, too green to PS level appointment. Just surprised to see him given acting role. Total lack of experience for this level. However, the regime had sent lot of people home at 55 years so why they are continuing to appointment and hold those over 55 years. This government has a habit of saying something else and doing opposite. There are too many appointment of inexperienced people in key roles. Long term result would be detrimental! AG wants to handle every ministry and every decision. I hardly hear Inoke Kubuabola nowadays..............his days are numbered!

Tomasi

20/4/2016 02:57:18 am

There is no doubt that Robin is well qualified for the PS position. In fact, he is more qualified than most of his Cabinet Ministers and the fake PM. Congratulations Robin. Do your best and justify your selection through excellent performance. That is a true measure of your merit.

Folks, from experience, qualifications is absolutely valuable. But how we apply that and excel in the daily performance of our duties to achieve excellent results is of far greater value. Qualifications offers us hope. Performance is actually delivering the goods beyond expectations.

20/4/2016 04:41:26 am

None on Pita's list are even closely as competent as Robin Nair. They are good people. But good people need not be the most competent professionals. I get this feeling that the objection to Nair comes not because of his competency, but because of other factors.

Ajay

20/4/2016 09:00:57 am

So many positive comments about robin. It's suspicious. He can't have that many fans! Knowing him from our school days I would not put it past him to sing his own praises on this blog under another name.

Shane

21/4/2016 01:02:25 pm

Congratulations Mr. Nair, you certainly deserved to be the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs. It was under your Ambassadorship that the 40 Fijian peacekeeper were released from the Syrian terrorist group Al-Nasra.

Probably you might want to share some intelligence to ulukau Kubuabola not to sell Fiji to Chinese by agreeing to their demands to support Chinese position on South China Sea.

It was indeed an embarrassing moment in Fiji's foreign policy when the Government of Fiji was caught off-guard where the Chinese thought that they could do anything to Bainimarama government which has been begging money from Beijing.

Shameless Kubuabola and Ioanne Naivalarua should resign. These scumbags and incompetent bastards are just oxygen thieves pocketing taxpayers money.

It seems cranky Frankie has some sense than Kubuabola as he didn't 'kubu' the Chinese in public likeKubuabola did.

Word from close FFP party caucus is that Kubuabola will be demoted as a back bencher or kicked out of parliament when Bainimarama returns from New York.

Socho

22/4/2016 12:46:46 am

The Syrian peace talks have crumbled and the UN personnel are packing up to leave. If only Robin Nair was there with his diplomatic skills...

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ROBIN STILL FLYING HIGH. Robin Nair, the former Ambassador to United Arab Emirates, is now the new Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs

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