24 Aug 2006

Fiji's Public Service continues to push for greater Indo-Fijian participation

8:09 pm on 24 August 2006

The chairman of Fiji's Public Service Commission, Stuart Huggett, says they are continuing to assess ways in which they could attract more Indo-Fijians into the organisation.

Under the constitution, the public service staffing is expected to reflect the racial make-up of the country but there is a big gap between the two major races.

The Public Service Association says there are 11,600 indigenous Fijians and only 6,300 Indo-Fijians employed despite the close balance between the two groups in the wider population.

Mr Huggett says they advertise widely but many qualified people left in the wake of the coups and they are struggling to attract staff.

"Obviously, all posts are advertised, many posts are advertised several times in order to try and see if we can redress this balance. What we do is also we try and find suitably qualified people and say could you answer this advertisement, please. But, most of the people that reply to our advertisements are in fact, Fijian."

Mr Huggett says a meeting of commissioners is likely to be held next week and the issue will be on the agenda again.