Minister Choksy's statement about his travels follows a story in The Sunday Times which revealed that nearly half of the jumbo sized cabinet of Ministers were taking advantage of the Avurudu holidays to visit world capitals at the people's expense, while the Prime Minister was holidaying in Bentota and Diyatalawa.

Minister Choksy explained why he could have, but did not go to Washington for a meeting of the IMF, and why he skipped going to Switzerland because he felt there would not be any tangible benefit for Sri Lanka on that trip.

Those were the days when Finance Minister N. M. Perera went to Washington more than he went to Yatiyantota, and Ronnie de Mel had no time at all to go to Devinuwara because the burdens of the Ministry of Finance took him to the far corners of the globe.
But this is the age of Information Technology, and even though there is still a need for personal contact, there are other facilities of video conferencing and tele-conferencing etc., which are available to those who want to use them.

But the idea seems to be to get that vital photo opportunity which enables the local dailies to carry press releases of beaming Ministers with their retinue, with a caption about what a wonderful job they have done.

For instance, one could question why two Cabinet Ministers have to meet the US under Secretary of State in order to get a commitment from the US that they will not automatically de-ban the LTTE if we do so, when the same commitment was made by the US envoy here in Colombo.

One Minister in the meanwhile has received a string of contradictions on his own version of his meeting with car manufacturers in Japan regarding investments here. This brings us to the matter of Cabinet Ministers intruding on the turf of their cabinet colleagues, creating an atmosphere of a rugger-scrumdown in the Cabinet. One Cabinet Minister met the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and got his photograph published in the newspapers, while the Foreign Minister is left in Colombo to talk about the "pada yatra'' from Kataragama to Jaffna - from, of all places - the Institute of International Relations, as if Kataragama and Jaffna were already two countries apart. In the pithy Sinhalese they say "ballage wade buruwa karanawa'' (….the donkey doing the dog's work .)
The spirit of sacrifice can be imbibed in a people by their leadership only by way of example. One cannot tell the people that they need to tighten their belts because the exchequer is empty, when the only belts that the Cabinet Ministers tighten are the seat belts on airbuses.

Minister Choksy said he is "very particular" about creating a frugal image; he went on his first overseas visit on state expense for the ADB meeting in Shanghai to meet his colleagues from regional finance ministers and bank officials. His wife who accompanies him goes on private expense, and does not masquerade as a private secretary entitling herself to a free ticket.

This is not to argue a 'frog-in-the-well' approach, but cutting down on wastage and unnecessary expenditure is an important part of good governance, and a little more financial discipline is required at the top if ordinary people are called on to make sacrifices.

Back to Top

Back to Index

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Webmaster