SUZANNE CHUTARO
Despite facing a vote of no confidence next week, President Hilda Heine did not shy away from her duties Tuesday to address government heads of departments to refocus their attention on providing customer service — her signature call to action since she assumed office in 2016.
“Of the five reasons for the motion of no confidence, one of them has to do with government services,” Heine pointed out. “Cabinet is responsible for policy issues and I’ll take the blame on that but it is you (government departments) that are responsible for providing services.”
Speaking at the quarterly head of departments’ meeting at the ICC chaired by Chief Secretary Ben Graham, President Heine said this motion of no confidence “is a reminder for all of us that we need to stop and look back to see if anyone is being left behind.
“We get so focused on moving forward and so busy with goals but we need to stop every once in a while and look around and make sure that others are moving forward with us,” said Heine. “We are trying to raise the standard of living for everyone in the Marshall Islands and we have make sure we are moving forward together.”
She asked the ministries to take a look at themselves and reevaluate what they are doing.
Ask yourselves: “Are you doing your job efficiently and fairly?”
“(The introducers of the motion of no confidence) are saying the government is not fair in delivering services,” said Heine. “You are the heads of your departments. This is what you can address as the implementation point is you. You need to make sure service is provided for all.”
Read more about this in the November 9, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.