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State
audit: Who's cooking the books? In
a special INSIGHT report in The Sunday Times he revealed how almost
every institution funded by the people's purse (with very few exceptions)
is riddled with corruption, inefficiency and bad fiscal management.
And his finger pointed to institutions no less important than the
President's Office and no less sacred than the Supreme Court for
this wastage of public funds. No wonder, then, that we continue to encounter over-crowded trains, pot-holed roads, lack of facilities in schools and universities, no street-lighting and so much associated with a poor economically struggling nation. The Insight report caused a brief interlude in Parliament's sessions this week and everyone in that august assembly agreed that "something must be done". It was then Opposition Leader late J.R. Jayewardene who told Parliament that to discuss these outdated reports was a "waste of time, a waste of paper and a waste of tongue". Soon after President Jayewardene and the UNP came into office in 1977, private sector audit firms were hired to assist the harassed and short-staffed Auditor General in bringing these accounts up-to-date. But the MPs, the guardians of the people's purse, remained indifferent about studying them. What the Auditor General told us last week and the follow up reports we carry today, is a vote of no-confidence on successive Parliaments to scrutinize these accounts. We all know that bribery and corruption have become endemic in Sri Lanka, and that the political leadership is just not interested in doing anything about it. Whenever a new government -- or a new President is elected -- one would hope for a new broom to sweep better. But has it? Glaring allegatrous of bribery and corruption as in the case of Admiral Daya Sandagiri, the chief of Defence Staff (CDS), have been dealt with kid-gloves by the President who promised a Supreme Court judge to investigate. Yet, this week, a month after he made that promise, the judge is yet to get his mandate to proceed. As for Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, where the President himself has expressed his displeasure over abuse of power over spending from state funds for the former's hotel stays abroad - it's a case of 'carry on regardless'. And the Tourism cess fund is abused no end by the Tourist Board while the Secretary to the Ministry -who is the chief accounting officer is asked to "shut up" by the Minister-in-charge. So, with bribery and corruption raging on one side, and corruption, wastage and financial mismanagement rampant on the other - Sri Lanka has a dubious future to look forward to. There are arguably two options that flow from the Auditor General's damning revelations. One is to close down the department and ask him not to waste his time, paper, pen and tongue. Whether he finds discrepancies in accounts and public servants pocketing public funds or not, it makes no difference -- just send him and his staff on long leave rather than maintain this facade of accountability in the public service. Clearly this is not an option, however realistic it may be. The other option is to do something about it. To allow the status quo to continue is not only meaningless but a standing joke for a sovereign country that claims it knows how to self-govern. This is the country whose Public Trustee -- note the name of his office -- has 34 cases of corruption against him before court. At least here the Government acted. The Auditor General is asking for reforms and this includes modernising his department. He is asking for a new National Audit Act that was agreed to in principle in 2004 but has been in the back-burner due to Finance Ministry apathy since. But to simply spend hours laboriously reconciling accounts with procedures and eventually only having these reports tabled in Parliament before a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) or a Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) whose sittings are not even open to the media and the public, is a sheer waste of time and resources. The Auditor General must be made an independent officer like the Elections Commissioner not subject to the whims and dictates of the political executive - especially the mandarins of the Finance Ministry -- for he performs an equally critical function in the affairs of democracy and good governance. He must be given some leverage to punish the culprits subject to an appellate judicial body. But above all, there must be the political will to arrest the slide. And we commend the Auditor General for displaying some spine -- and reassuring us that honesty in the public service, is not dead. |
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