Sunday Times 2
Shuffling the Pack
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I was musing this month about this concept of Cabinet Reshuffles.
The word ‘Reshuffle’ is defined as the interchange of positions by members of a team, changing WHO does WHAT in an organisation. The word is also used to describe the process of shuffling a pack of playing cards a second time.
Reshuffling the Cabinet is a tactic used by the head of government tochange or rotate the composition of ministers in his or her cabinet of ministers. It is a way for the head of government to “refresh” the government, to remove poor performers, reward loyal supporters andsend others into limbo.
It was quite obvious to those of us who were watching the previous Minister of Health going about her job that she was woefully incompetent for her role. We saw her hugging a Chinese tourist who had recovered from COVID, we saw her drinking the ‘Paniya’ made by a charlatan, we even saw her pouring a pot of holy water into a river to control the pandemic. To top all this, she herself tested positive for COVID.
But is “shuffling” the cabinet the best way of removing a poor performer and improving the performance of the organisation? PavithraWanniarachchi—who when she was at AnulaVidyalaya wasleader of the debating team, captain of the volleyball teamand head prefect — is someone who went into politics straight after she graduated fromLawCollege and took oaths as attorney-at-law. Her political career was no doubt helped by the fact that she was the daughter of well-known politician DharmadasaWanniarachchi. In politics, as in marketing, brand recognition plays an important role in influencing the public to select a product.
But the fact is that this lady, who was entrusted with important portfolios such as Health and Transport, had never done a significant administrative or managerial job in her life before she took to politics. All she has done is be a political organiser, starting with Kalawana in 1991. Like Ranil Wickremesinghe, she went straight from Law College into politics.
Should people whose only qualification (apart from playing volleyball) is organising political activity and winning elections be entrusted with life or death portfolios like the Ministry of Health? Just because someone can garner a whole lot of votes in Ratnapura or Kandy or Kesbewa, should they be rewarded with a ministerial portfolio?
True, the COVID pandemic has created chaos and made it difficult for anyone to run a country efficaciously — but when we have a minister who refuses to listen to scientific advice and labours under the misconception that pots of holy water and Paniyas made of honey andsaadikka can kill the coronavirus, we must seriously question the wisdom of the President giving her such an important portfolio.
She has now been “shuffled” to become the new Minister of Transport — but in my simple view, someone who has proved to be an incompetent Minister of Health will simply prove to be an incompetent Minister of Transport.
If the President is serious in his intent of weeding out poor performers and entrusting important portfolios to competent people, he should have had the guts to sack those who had failed —and pick capable and qualified subordinates who could understand their portfolios and handle the job they are given.
Thankfully, he has given the Ministry of Education to an educated member — a man with tertiary qualifications from the Netherlands and the US – and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to an articulate former professor with knowledge and previous experience in the job.
But for the all-important Ministry of Health, which has the life or death responsibility of leading us through this COVID pandemic, the President has selected a hotel school graduate and former film maker — whose greatest qualification is that as former media spokesman he can handle queries from the media. This man with the gift of the gab might claim to have spent several months overseas at the prestigious Alfred Hospital in Australia – although he was there not to learn about medical matters but to be treated for injuries sustained after falling from a hotel balcony.
Having several medically qualified persons in his parliamentary party to call on, it is interesting to muse as to why the President did not appoint one of them to replace the erring Heath Minister – and instead moved his media expert to handle the Ministry of Health.
Up to date, Sri Lanka has (according to official statistics) recordedmore than 400,000 cases of COVID infection and almost 7000 deaths.
Presidential weakness is shown when a head of government feels unable to remove from cabinet a powerful vote-getter or a leader of one of those propping-up minor party. So rather than sacking an incompetent minister, the President moves him or her to another ministry.
Reshuffling the cabinet is a bit like reshuffling a pack of cards— but when one has a pack of cards containing more than its fair share of jokers and knaves,what can we poor citizens hope for?