Entitlement culture
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Should I be pleased or was it just a coincidence? In a November 10, 2024 column titled ‘Reinventing the wheel’, I wrote: “With new committees, institutions and political authorities comes a requirement of space to house these new bodies. The BMICH is often used to house presidential commissions and inquiry committees. Maybe some of the 30-odd government bungalows that were used by ministers and now released to the state could be repurposed as office space for new institutions or even old institutions that require space rather than hiring new space.”The focus of that column and the suggestions made were to highlight the need for the government to reduce waste – hiring new space for state agencies – and instead use available space and cut costs.
Then on January 12, the Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala told the media that the government planned to do exactly what was suggested by Kussi Amma Sera – repurpose 50 luxury bungalows, hitherto used by ministers, for other purposes and generate revenue for the state.
The minister said it was decided that no minister in the government would use these bungalows and that it would be used by other government departments (as recommended by Kussi Amma Sera) or utilised for tourism purposes. Well, I was on cloud 9 (a state of extreme happiness) this Thursday morning when this piece of information was brought to my notice by Arthika, my odd-ball economist friend also known as good-for-nothing Somey during a morning phone conversation.
“I say, I remember you writing about these government bungalows and suggesting that if the decision is not to allow ministers to use these residences, that they be used as office space for government departments instead of hiring new space. Seems policy makers are reading your column,” he said, laughing.
“I think it was more of a coincidence. Anyway, whatever way you look at the decision, it is a laudable one and suggests the government is keen to cut costs and move away from hiring costly space for various institutions when there is enough space via these bungalows that can be used,” I said.
Having concluded a long conversation with Somey on many issues confronting the government, we decided to meet face-to-face for a coffee soon.
While the move to utilise government bungalows for official purposes like housing government departments or renting them out to the private sector for a fee is good, the next step in this exercise is to ensure ministers and their henchmen abandon the entitlement culture. The government, in particular the President and the Prime Minister, needs to announce a policy where ministers and ruling party politicians are told that they are not an ‘entitled’ lot and should not accept special privileges from the government and the public.
A code of conduct for ministers and ruling party politicians should be promulgated to ensure these politicians live like normal citizens, albeit with a few concessions in the work that they handle. The National People’s Power (NPP) won a landslide victory at last year’s parliamentary polls on a single platform – tackle corruption, waste and mismanagement and conform to the rule of law that applies to all citizens. Their behaviour in public must reflect government values where the rule of law and accepted behaviour is sacrosanct.
In the past 40-50 years, there have been many instances where ministers and ruling party politicians have abused power, for instance walking into police stations and threatening officers whenever their supporters were arrested for a criminal offence. Recently, a former minister of the Ranil Wickremesinghe government got involved in a brawl at a sports club in Colombo; such behaviour should not be tolerated and if an offence has been committed, the police should act according to the law. Many are the instances where politicians and their ilk walk into government and even private hospitals as if they own the place and expect special treatment. Then there are cases where the politicians have run riot at wildlife parks.
In another instance, a powerful politician also controlled the jeeps for hire at a wildlife park and the same situation was evident at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, where a politician controlled the vehicles for hire. Then there was this boorish politician who once tied a government worker to a tree as he had disobeyed a directive from the politician, who should have been jailed for taking the law into his own hands. The matter was exposed in the media but no action was taken against the politician. This was all part of the entitlement culture we lived in the past.
Then at a private school and also a tuition class down the same road, in a town near Colombo, the residents have been protesting against inconvenience and traffic congestion. Whenever residents complain, a minister who owned the school would call the police and order them to ignore these complaints. Again the entitlement culture that we lived in, where ministers and ruling party politicians were treated with kid gloves by the police and the authorities.
What about the disbursement of vehicles to ministers and MPs? In a good move, the Ministry of Finance has directed all state institutions to auction V8 luxury vehicles under their purview, vehicles that were used by former ministers and their advisors. The plan is to provide cheaper vehicles with less costly maintenance to ministers and officials.
Taking a breather, I went into the kitchen to fetch my second mug of tea for the morning and was distracted by the conversation of the trio under the margosa tree. “Janadhipathi pita rata gihama, eyath ekka amathiwaru saha niladhari bohoma tika denai yanney. Eka honda deyak (When the President goes abroad, only a few ministers and officials accompany him. This is a good move),” said Kussi Amma Sera.
“Athithaye eh wagey gaman walata aanduwen 20-30 amathiwaru, niladhari saha nadeyo yanawa (In the past, during such trips sometimes the government delegation had 20 to 30 ministers, officials and close relatives),” noted Serapina. “Magey balaporoththuwa may aanduwa mudal nasthi nokarai kiyala saha deshapalakayo hariyata hasirei kiyala (I hope this government doesn’t waste money and also that its politicians behave properly in public),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu. “Mama hithanawa policiyata kiyala thiyenawa kiyala deshapalakayinge medihathweemwalata ekanga wenna epa kiyala rajakariya karanakota (I think the police have been told that there won’t be any interference from politicians in doing their work),” said Serapina.
With 100 days being completed after NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the presidential poll, expectations are running high on the performance of the government in terms of tackling corruption, waste and mismanagement. There is a lot to be done and one way of measuring the success of the government is in how politicians behave in public, forgo special privileges enjoyed by their predecessors and stand in a queue like everyone else – for example – at a supermarket check-out point.
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