Female takes over as MAL Deputy Secretary of Administration and Strategic Planning

Sponsored Advertisement

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL) has a new Deputy Secretary of Administration and Strategic Planning (DSASP).

She is Mrs. Elda Leah Wate.Mrs. Wate replace Under Secretary Administration (USA) now renamed as Deputy Secretary Administration and Strategic Planning Oswald Ramo who retired in 2020.

Sponsored Advertisement

Prior to taking up the DSASP role, Mrs. Wate worked as Assistant Accountant General-Management within the Ministry of Finance, Treasury Division (MoFT).

Mrs. Wate served the government for many years and held few positions in other line government ministries which include the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Public Service and recently the Ministry of Finance & Treasury (MoFT).Hailed from Western Province, Mrs. Wate held a Degree qualification in Accounting from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of the South Pacific (USP).

“I am honoured and humble to take up this position and it is all about hard working and perseverance to reach this far. I gave credit to my former superiors, former ministries, I served under. They are my mentors and my stepping-stone it’s not who you are but it’s a collective effort and coordination that has to be recognized within the organisation that will uplift and bring changes. Am just a another helping hand in trying to have positive mind to make others believe in yourself to be successful in whatever roles we assigned with, whether it is small or big the level is – we all part of the team to achieve,” Mrs. Wate said.

When asked of her top priorities Mrs. Wate said, “Well – Things do not happen overnight, it takes time and effort. But I would like to see improvement in the procurement processes because it leads to non-compliance that caused delay to projects and service delivery. So on target for simple procurement training.”

She said the second priory is to close the gaps in the establishment including the provincial centres.

“It is always good to fill vacant positions through promotion and recruit below unless a very technical position. I have been instructed by the Permanent Secretary to support our planning team develop an active database on the genuine farmers so that resources is made available to genuine farmers and everyone else we need to reach and to have a vibrant networking with the right people. Also for monitoring and evaluation, purpose would be much easier and on target. And the most challenging one – is for MAL to have its own home to accommodate everyone under one roof. Time will tell,” the new DSA courageously said.

 The Permanent Secretary Ethel Tebengi Frances in welcoming the new DSASP said that she is excited to have another helping hand as the ministry for a long time only had one Deputy Secretary Technical.

“She was highly favoured amongst the other candidates because of her wider SIG procurement knowledge and other government processes where the ministry wish to improve on. MAL has to improve its support to farmers around the country and we must make efforts to do it better every time. One area I wish to see MAL improve on as well is project delivery and we can only improve on this if we have robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in place. I am looking forward to supporting Mrs Wate supervise this work for MAL,”PS Frances said. Other areas the Permanent Secretary wish to see our new DSASP fully engaged in is the management of our (MAL) development partner portfolio, supporting the ministry with policy developments and ministry reporting.

Mrs. Wate received an overwhelming congratulatory messages from MAL management and staff as she took office and commence official duties at her new work station at MAL Headquarter on Monday this week (26th July).

Human Resource Manager (HRM) Paurina Galo Akwai in welcoming Mrs. Wate to MAL thanked her for accepting the offer for the position of DSASP and to be part of the MAL team.

She said the ministry and staff are looking forward to working closely with her toward development of agriculture sector in the country. Meanwhile, PS Frances said, “MAL team has been looking forward to this extra support and we are grateful you able to leave your comfort zone to take up this role and new challenge. Rest assured of our support. We wish you Gods wisdom and protection for this new role and MAL family,” PS Frances said as she joined MAL in welcoming Mrs. Wate to the Ministry.

The DSASP directly supervises Corporate and Planning teams, however, any technical related work will still be referred to Deputy Secretary Technical. Michael Ho’ota is MAL Deputy Secretary Technical (DST).

• MAL Press