Sri Lanka needs a “Public service”
It is with much interest I read and re-read the account of Tissa Devendra on “Myth of an Independent Public Service” and the rejoinders of B. S. Wijeweera and R. M. B. Senanayake – who are all three senior and well respected colleagues in the public service. All three of them have lamented in their own way the absence of an independent public service. The very notion of this “independent public service” raised a few concerns in my mind. What do we mean by “independent”? Independence from what or from whom? Independence for what? Independence to what degree? Since I am unable to come to terms with this definition, I place my concerns before the public who is at the recipient end of the public service.
The Sri Lankan public service was established in the 19th century for collection of tax revenue and for maintenance of law and order for the benefit of colonial masters. It served the “Master” well and it is still serving the “Master” well. Independence is not a pre-requisite to serve the “Master”. Then why bother about it?
Work connected with elections has, very often, been cited as the best example of an independent public service. It is true that the public service is performing well in conducting elections but can we attribute it to its independence alone? There are many perhaps more important reasons. First, the Elections Law is supreme; Second, the Election Manual is a best clearly written document in the public sector; Public Servants can discharge the entire process of election work step by step smoothly with the help of the manual; Third, a series of instruction classes are conducted to supplement the Election Law and manual. Fourth, the sole responsibility of the polling/counting centre is on the Senior Presiding Officer/Chief Counting Officer; Fifth, time bound tasks are assigned to those involved in election duty; Sixth, officers are provided with virtually unlimited human, physical and financial resources and facilities for election work; lastly, it is team- play.
It is obvious that the success story of the public service during election time cannot be explained through the absence of independence alone. The public service which is at its best during election time shows symptoms of an ailing system in normal times. If it is not the absence of independence; the cause should lie elsewhere.
The public servant was initially exposed to the “Master” and “Beneficiary” only. But, in today’s context, the public service has to interact with the Corporate Sector, NGOs, donors, investors, and academics on top of the politician. The number as well as nature of stakeholders has changed completely. There have been continuous changes within and outside the country as well as the public service since its establishment. New concepts, trends and processes such as poverty alleviation, regional development, negotiations, privatization, public private partnership, consultation, and participation have crept into the public service jargon.
The public service was initially organized in a vertical pattern but has now grown both vertically and horizontally. Services such as health, education which were state monopolies are now open to private investment. The challenge and opportunity before the public servant is changing. The schemes of recruitment and promotions, capacity development, exposure, skills, knowledge and training to accommodate the new trends and to deal with diverse actors and activities have not adequately and systematically been introduced into public service.
Recruitments to public service are centralized. Vacancies exist in one corner while the recruits come from another corner. Most of the positions in the public service can be filled within the locality. There are many educated talented youths available on location. They are familiar with the culture, way of life and problems in the area. They are deprived of an opportunity to serve the area. Decentralization of recruitment will minimize cost of travelling and transport, time spent, displeasure among public servants and citizens and need for transfers. Promotions are based primarily on the seniority. Once a person is recruited to the public service, he/she is well protected within a cocoon. She/he will simply rise within the cocoon. There is one entry point at the bottom and one exit point at the top. While there is a possibility to introduce several entry points into the public service, promotions should be based upon performance.
In recruitment, the talents, interest, (soft) skills, specialty, capacity, capability and locality of the candidate is not recognized. We do not seek applicants with skills to suit the job. Prominence and priority is given to academic qualifications. This has led to displeasure, non-performance and even disciplinary action. My good friend Nissanka Diddeniya is a man gifted with many talents including a musical voice. He was appointed as a Cooperative Inspector which demanded frequent travel to the field.
This affected his showing excellence in his artistic talents. At the end, this gifted artist who was subjected to many disciplinary actions left the department. I am told music maestros such as Amaradeva, Victor Ratnayake, Rohana Beddage and well known Dayananda Gunawardane have faced disciplinary action including interdictions during their tenure in the public service. This is comparable with the private sector which is hunting for rare talents such as excellence in sports, arts etc. for employment. The private sector not only employs them but also promotes their talents. The private sector speaks of the presence of such talented individuals with pride, pleasure and honour. It helps in image building.
The public servant is more concerned of the process rather than the result. She/he is governed by rules, regulations and procedures. As long as the procedure is right the outcome is immaterial. I am not undermining the need for rules and regulations but they should be reviewed periodically and revised to suit prevailing conditions and needs. The public servant has not developed a habit of taking several steps concurrently. She/he does not use their discretion; does not make recommendations; does not make decisions. Passing the buck is a well known term in the public service.
The late Minister Lakshman Jayakody once related a story of a file reaching his table. It had contained notes made by several officers. It was the same note (“Seen; submitted”) except for initials of different officials from clerk to the Secretary. No observations or recommendations or decisions made. What did the Minister do? He had written “Seen; Thanks” and returned the file which has gone through the same route right down to the clerk. What is the effect or the value addition? The paper, time, electricity, energy, money was wasted for nothing.
In public service, a proper systematic performance evaluation is not being carried out. It is widely believed that the nature of public service makes difficult the identification, quantification and evaluation of the performance of a public servant. But, let me explain this with a simple familiar example. In the good old days, “watcher” provided the security. He did not have a specific target or task. He takes a sumptuous meal at night, gets his torch and gets into his watch hut and sleeps well till morning. No questions raised; no action taken until some calamity happens. Today, the security service is outsourced. Tasks and targets of a security guard are clearly documented in the agreement entered into between service provider and the recipient Government institute. And this is so for all the services outsourced.
There have been reforms introduced to improve the public service. They were basically aimed at improving the welfare and status of the public servant rather than its delivery capacity and service quality. Benefits do not reach every public servant in an equitable manner. Those who serve in the outstations will not get attention. Once, a Secretary reminded me of “out of sight out of mind”.
There are departments identified as “preferred” and areas identified as “difficult”. Public servants prefer to get a transfer to such a preferred department; higher authorities prefer to transfer officers on punishment to difficult areas. Ridimaliyadde is a DS division which more often than not is served by an acting Divisional Secretary except on occasions a punishment transfer was made.
When a person is recruited to the public service a ‘Duty List’ is given. This is an open ended document containing routine duties. There are no time bound targets/milestones/tasks given in it. A public servant does not know the relationship, impact, interplay or the dependence of her/his duties and work of fellow workers or the agency. There is no realization that a public servant would not realize that the individual is the wheel of administration and without their contribution the wheel cannot turn. The duty list must specify where the public servant stands in the process. That should provide a clear understanding to the public servant on her/his contribution to the final outcome with her/his presence as well as absence.
Whether the public service is independent or not, what the country needs is a service sensitive, responding and catering to requirements of the public, emerging needs and developing trends. Schemes of recruitments and promotions should be revisited and revised. Training and capacity and professionalism development programmes should be designed to accommodate the current and future needs.
We always believe that the period we served in public service was different and was the golden era and it has deteriorated over time. This, in my opinion, is a myth. It is true that there have been exemplary, outstanding and excellent public servants. It is a case of individuals. But, whether we ever had a public service of that nature and calibre is doubtful. Since the inception for several decades public servants were recruited from among one or two academic streams. But, the recent recruits to the public service possess multi-disciplinary skills and qualifications in addition to their subject knowledge. They are educated, young, innovative, barely risk aversive, positive in their thinking and open to change.
The public service was created in Sri Lanka to cater to the needs of the “Master”. Serious and unprecedented changes are taking place outside the public service and the country at an accelerated pace. The public service changes at a snail’s pace and continue serving the “Master” at the expense of the very public. Our failure to deliver is attributed to the absence of independence. When we were handling a Graduate Training Scheme, the graduates used to approach the late Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle direct. They came to meet us with a directive from the Minister. One day, I asked the Minister as to why the graduates bypass us and go direct to him. His simple explanation was that is because they do not get a hearing from ‘you all’. Absence of independence or what one calls ‘political interference’ is a result of our inaction. We do not have alternative ideas to counter the politician and meekly agree with him. We must get our act right. It is time to turn the torch on ourselves rather than looking for a scapegoat.
The present need is for a dynamic, knowledgeable, skillful, effective results oriented professional public service rather than an independent public service on our journey of making Sri Lanka “the Wonder of Asia”..
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