‘Ambalame Pina’
View(s):‘Ambalame Pina-Pina
Walankadak Gena-Gena
Eka bidapu Gona-Gona
Ekata mata Hina-Hina’
I was reminded of this favourite children’s rhyme when listening to Kussi Amma Sera’s diatribe on the foibles of Sri Lankan politicians. “Eya ekak kiyanawa. Anith dawase anith ekkena ‘return’ ekay denewa,” she said one day, looking up from the Lankadipa newspaper while reading a story about a ruling party politician attacking an opposition politician and the ‘return’ response from the aggrieved party.
“Meka hari kolamak, apey ratey. Apey manthrila hariyata wedak karanne-nathuwai, hemadama ‘trouble’,” she said spicing up her criticism with a few English words she had learnt from her 18-year-old son who had visited her, from their village, last month.
That parliamentarians do nothing other than fight, argue and return home without any productive work in the legislature, has been a perennial problem. Over the years, there have been a mix of ‘good’ MPs and ‘bad’ MPs and while together the mix should at least bring out some (not all) positive results in terms of productive work done, over the past two years however it has been constant opposition and ‘return ekak’ culture that has emanated through the walls of this august assembly (though whether the Sri Lankan Parliament deserves this revered description is now a question). The same applies to all local bodies and local politicians.
Even if the government wants to do something, there is some opposition. On the other hand, if there was opposition support, government backbenchers would greet such response with a tinge of suspicion and a “why are they supporting this” and “is there a motive, an agenda behind-kind of feeling”.
Time is running out for the rulers. Already the two governing parties are halfway through their parliamentary term and period of rule. Not much has been done other than one; freedom to citizens, in every, real sense of the word.
The rest of the time has been wasted in shuffling positions or threatened Cabinet reshuffles, giving little time to incumbent ministers and officials to get down to ‘real’ work. This also reminds me of the culture of the diplomatic service pertaining to the usual 3-year term of a diplomat: The first year is spent settling down in a foreign country, bringing the family across and learning the culture and making friends, etc while the second year is spent on doing some ‘real’ work and diplomacy. The final year is ‘getting ready to work out the next assignment’. In our book, this is called a “settling-in-period”, “real work” and “readying to go”.
The culture of governance in Sri Lanka is almost similar in a 5-year parliamentary term. It takes two years to settle in, appoint cronies, reshuffle people and ‘play political games with the opposition’; midway for about a year, some real work is done though today midway in the term of the government of cohabitation, ‘real’ work has become a challenge with ‘distractions’ (Treasury Bond Commission, for example) taking away the people’s attention to work or making sure their political representatives work. In the final years of Government (in this case August 2018 to August 2020) it is mostly likely to be a case of preparing to win the next election with ‘handouts’ and electioneering at the cost of the taxpayer.
So the government’s mid-way term (2017/2018) should ideally see some real work being done. However, the ‘settling-in’ period is taking longer than expected with the ruling parties unable to come together on many issues, and the agreement between the two ruling parties in danger of being thrown out of the window in December. Corruption is also at play and playing into the hands of the opposition.
Consider today’s progress in terms of the economy, business and investment. Economic growth is seen to be better in 2017 against 2015/16, however, challenged by natural disasters that have wreaked havoc not only on homes, communities and businesses but also on finances for which billions of rupees were compelled to be set aside for relief and welfare work.
Foreign investment is slowly picking up with a silver lining in terms of the stock market which has seen a favourable rise in the inflow of foreign funds. New tax laws give the impression that the people would have to pay more taxes though mandarins at the Treasury (under the guidance of Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Eran Wickramaratne) insist it’s based on an individual’s income and ability to pay. By the way, how should such an assessment be made? Cost of living plus a percentage set aside as savings divided by income or is it just ‘living costs’ divided by income? Savings today are only possible if people do two jobs instead of one, given today’s burden on the household budget.
Moving onto the wheels of the government, there is a need to re-engineer the public sector. Efficiency of the public service is a core problem of the governing parties: The public service has been slow and not working at the pace of the government . It took more than 18 months for the Treasury to settle in due to conflicts between a team of advisors appointed by the then minister in charge and long-standing Treasury officials. Budgets went haywire, court rulings blocked the implementation of revenue measures which didn’t follow procedure and some officials took early retirement without the routine extension period.
Now the ‘settling-in period’ appears to be in full swing at the Treasury with the entry of two new ministers and all eyes are on the November budget (and not infighting at the Treasury) and what it holds for business and the people.
In our book, the real challenge is not the economy, not taxes, not corruption. It is an effective and empowered public service that won’t be swayed or distracted by politicians or changing colours. A new set of rules through a Public Service Charter approved by Parliament is necessary to ensure public servants discharge their duties without fear or favour to benefit the people, not politicians. The old rules don’t fit in with today’s needs and challenges. For example, last week’s column referred to the rules pertaining to the maintenance of files in a government department and how these rules were blatantly violated.
While policies are subject to change as political colours do, the public official is duty-bound to implement these policies but within laid out parameters which would ensure Constitutional protection for ‘refusing an order’ if deemed illegal, corrupt or smacks of political favouritism.
A classic run-around is seen at Dehiwela, where residents complaining of illegal constructions are pushed from pillar to post in their complaints and given the usual merry-go- round in the complaints mechanism.
As Kussi Amma Sera says, “Apey manthrila honda weda- palak koranna puluwan-nam, kochhera hond-da ratata. Ethakota apey Grama Sevaka mahaththaya-lath hariyata weda—korie.”
Loosely translated, what she means is that if MPs do their job then from village officials to the top of the bureaucracy, the systems will run efficiency. One of the best things that could happen from the Government (apart from the freedom doctrine) is to create this Public Service Charter. Economic growth, an educated workforce, the rule of law and less corruption will then all fall into place. Parliament would then cease to be an ‘Ambalama’ with the people’s representatives ‘hard at work’ instead of ‘hardly at work’.