Fiji Corrections not required to seek Cabinet approval for job trade-offs

The Fiji Corrections Service (FCS) is not required to inform Cabinet about trade-off positions within the 81 approved posts, as long as the changes remain within the allocated budget set by the Ministry of Finance.

Ministry of Finance manager for the Economic Sector Budget, Kiman Mala, confirmed this on Wednesday while giving evidence during the tribunal hearing into the inquiry of suspended Commissioner Jalesi Nakarawa.

In her testimony, Ms Mala told the court that the FCS Job Evaluation Exercise (JEE) papers were approved and scheduled to be rolled out in three phases, starting with the 2024–2025 National Budget.

In the first phase, 81 approved positions were allocated $9.83 million, of which $7.96 million was for salary increments and $1.87 million for new positions.

She said the ministry’s role was only to ensure that the institution’s spending did not exceed the allocated budget.

Ms Mala explained that FCS was not required to return to Cabinet for approval of trade-off positions, provided they remained within the budget.

She said the ministry only became aware of the trade-offs when comparing the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 budgets.

She noted that some positions implemented were different from those originally submitted and approved by Cabinet.

The tribunal heard that for the 2025–2026 financial year, only 40 positions were approved, fewer than the previous year because FCS had not filled all posts in the earlier phase.