PAN Regularization Process Extends to 120 Days

In a press conference held at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism (MICAT) on April 10, 2024, the Director-General of the Civil Service Agency (CSA), Hon. Josiah F. Joekia, Jr., pronounced an extension of days for the regularization of civil servant personnel action notices (PANs).

The Director-General revealed that the Agency has decided to extend the period for processing these notices from 90 to 120 days in order to properly accommodate nationwide civil servants. With a new extended period of 120 days now running from April 2 to August 2, 2024, the CSA will aim to streamline the process and provide more flexibility for both civil servants and the agency itself.

According to the Hon. Joekai, the process will allow the CSA to deploy the required logistics and teams of analysts to work with the Human Resource Departments of Spending Entities so that bona fide employees can complete their PAN process.

He stated that the Civil Service Agency will produce jingles with relevant messages in English and local languages to adequately educate and inform people on the entire PAN completion exercise and air the messages on national and local radio stations. Hon. Joekia also added that the CSA will continue working closely with the MICAT to provide regular updates on the exercise.

“In the coming days, the CSA will send a timeline to all the spending entities for the entire exercise detailing key activities with execution dates and assigned teams. The timeline will aid spending entities and human resource departments in particular to appropriately prepare themselves for the exercise.” Hon. Joekai asserted.

Hon. Joekia also extended his profound gratitude to developmental partners, especially the Government of the United States through USAID, the Swedish Government, the European Union (EU), and the World Bank Group for the Public Sector Modernization Project (PSMP), which was implemented by the CSA, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), and a host of other spending entities over the last six years with the goal of instituting major reforms to ensure prudent public finance management.

An integral part of the PSMP was the national payroll management and control system to ensure accountability and transparency in the usage of public funds to pay government employees.

The announcement has been met with positive reception from civil servants, with many anticipating clarity under the PAN regularization process and timeframe. Meanwhile, in keeping with accountability and transparency, the Director-General has disclosed plans to implement the recommendations from the General Auditing Commission’s (GAC) forensic payroll compliance audit from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021, which uncovered alarming proportions of financial mismanagement and fraud.