Andrew Solomon Napuat

The intention of the amended Labor Work Permits Amendment Act has been misinterpreted, says Minister of Internal Affairs Andrew Napuat.

Prior to the public consultation sponsored by the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry,the Minister responsible for Labor was invited by VCCI to which he declined in his email to VCCI last week.

Mr Napuat said that he has received a copy of a letter to the Prime Minister on the said amendment to Work Permits and the request to put on hold the gazettal of the amendment until proper consultation is conducted with VCCI, Labor Department and other relevant authorities.

“We are serious about what we do and we will continue to consult either by phone,meetings, letters or by email and other means on any policy and legislative proposals that we will be carrying out this year,” he said.

“When we do, we expect our stakeholders to have the courtesy to respond to us, in this case and for this amendment, even just a short feedback to say you are considering our proposal and would require more time to be give, we would have considered that.”

Mr Napuat stated in his response that he has on record that despite emails and meetings, nothing so perturbing was forthcoming from TLAC or VCCI during the months of September to November until he tabled the amendment in Parliament.

“We will continue to consult as required but the consultation will not go on forever so no response from our stakeholders during the consultation means we will continue to move forward as expected,” he said.

“I noted that the intention of the amendment has been somehow misinterpreted in the arguments and points that you presented, some of which have been overstated and lack a true reflection of the reality that is being faced by our citizens every day in as far as the workforce challenges are concerned.”

Mr Napuat stated that amidst all the reactions from the public at large some workers and companies have already paid in fees, had their applications processed and granted work permits.

He said that a review of the impact of the amendment will be done after one year of implementation as well as quarterly and six monthly monitoring of the amendment to assess its impact on the economy.

Mr Napuat reiterated that the meeting held on Monday February 4 was an awareness from his staff to clarify what needs to be clarified for understanding.

“Our graduates who are graduating out of universities every year must be given the opportunity to excel into top positions and serve in whatever capacity to contribute to the development of our country,” he said.

“Some have been employed for years and have never been promoted as no training (in the work place) is being offered.

“These are not unskilled or semi-skilled workers, they are skilled graduates who are already employed but need hands on experience, coaching and mentoring so they could become fully competent.

Napuat stated that there is difference between workplace training with University training and they are targeting the training of workers who have been recruited on merit and are already employed by companies but require experience from their foreign counterparts ‘ so that they achieve the level of competence in order to succeed in those roles after the foreign counterparts’.

“The argument about procedural and administrative weakness in the development of this amendment only addresses the procedural and administrative concern but does not address the real issues that this amendment is finally addressing for the good of our citizens,” he said.

“The State Law Office would have raised these procedural weaknesses even the Council of Ministers at the very first place, how good is a policy, legislation or framework that follows all the detailed stages that is required for its formulation to approval yet fails to deal with the real issues.

“I believe the amendment addresses the realities and concerns of our citizens, however if it does otherwise, then there is always room for improvement-we have to start somewhere and that is what we have done.

Napuat invited the stakeholders to use the opportunity this year to prepare a more comprehensive analysis of the amendment and proposed to the government how they could collaborate to address the purported negative impacts.

“The government is here to address the issues and deliver as expected so we will be moving forward according to our timeline on any policy objectives that we develop in the future,” he said.

“We will consider reviewing this amendment after one year to asses its impacts on the private sector especially if it’s having a negative impact on our economy.”

source:Vanuatu daily post