Civil service lacks whistleblower protection, PS admits

Fiji’s civil service has no government-wide whistleblower policy to protect workers who speak up against bullying or harassment.

This is despite an anti-bullying policy technically being in place.

Ministry of Civil Service permanent secretary Pita Tagicakirewa made the admission before a parliamentary committee yesterday.

He said only the Ministry itself had an internal whistleblower policy.

“For the service as a whole, we have no whistleblower policy,” he told the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs during a review of the ministry’s 2022–2023 Annual Report.

Deputy chairperson Rinesh Sharma said he was not satisfied with the response, and called for harassment and bullying cases across all ministries to be tracked and made public.

“Protection of our workforce is paramount, it determines the productivity of the executive arm of government,” Mr Sharma said, adding that he had previously raised in Parliament concerns about interns and junior staff being bullied by seniors.

Mr Tagicakirewa acknowledged improvement was needed and said the Civil Service Act 1999 may need to be amended to allow for proper reporting mechanisms.

Ministry deputy secretary Samuela Moce noted that civil servants could raise grievances through the Public Service Commission, and that an anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policy existed across government.

The Fiji Learning Institute for Public Service confirmed that training on the anti-bullying policy was available to all civil servants, including those in rural and maritime areas.

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