Special Assignment

4th Apirl 1999

PCs must come alive or die

'It is a big fraud!'

PCs must come alive or die

By Chamintha Thilakarathna, Wathsala Mendis and Udena R.Attygalle

With just two days for the provincial council elections in five provinces, the question many people ask is what has the provincial council system done for them in the past 11 years or so.

For many people, the PC system is neither an instrument of power sharing nor a device to decentralise the central administration. Instead of administrative harmony, there exists duplication or triplication of bureaucratic red tape after the introduction of the system in 1987, following an Indian mediated peace agreement to end the war with the LTTE which was fighting for a separate state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

We repeat a much hackneyed paragraph when one writes about the PC system — the PC system is operative in all the provinces except the north-east where it was really meant for in terms of devolution of power.

In the neigbouring India, the chief minister and the governor of the state are household names. But in Sri Lanka, few people know the chief minister and fewer the governor. In short, the system has little meaning in the day-to-day life of the people. One reason for this could be the absence of meaningful devolution.

In the centre of confusion is the concurrent list — a list which contains subjects that come under the joint purview of the central government and the provincial administration with the former having a greater say. Through this what is given with one hand is often taken away with the other, reducing devolution, decentralisation or whatever the word to a mockery.

With local government bodies also coming under the PC system, one subject is handled by all three institutions — the central government ministry, the PC and the local body — or sometimes by none of them. In such circumstances, the development process suffers as we highlighted in our special assignments in the past two weeks.

In the Central Province, loopholes in the administration system have affected the rural areas more with fields such as education, transport, health and agriculture being the worst hit.

The administration in the Western Province, on the other hand, is struggling with demands form the rising population and insufficient resources to meet them. The system introduced to simplify administration has had an opposite effect, leading to much confusion not only to people but also to officials.

In both provinces, our investigations revealed that even officials appointed to ensure that the PC system works well are now getting sick of it because they often do not know what to do or where to go.

We found many people have still not come to terms with the system and their attempt to comprehend it leads only to more confusion and frustration.

The slow and wayward progress of the PCs gives validity to the claim that they are nothing more than glorified local councils — only the perks and privileges for the politicians cost the public much more.

According to the 13th Amendment to the constitution, local government authorities have been placed under the supervision of the Provincial Council. This means that the PC is responsible for the activities of the local councils.

However, the amendment is so vaguely phrased that while some functions do come under the supervision of the PC, others don't. Duties of keeping the roads clean, collecting the garbage or even lighting the street lamps are not the responsibility of the PCs, but the local bodies.

As explained in our March 21 special assignment page, road maintenance is one area which involves all three institutions — the Pradeshiya sabha or the Municipal Council, the PC, and the Central Ministry of Highways, which runs the Road Development Authority.

While main roads or A1 roads are the responsibility of the RDA, less important roads are the responsibility of the PC. Foot paths, by roads, lanes and others are the responsibility of the local councils.

The confusion is obvious. When a road is damaged, before filing a complaint, the public is expected to know the status of the road. Later try to figure out to which institution the road belongs. But often people end up complaining to all authorities who report them to each other and the road remains broken probably until the next election.

Officials are confused on authority, leaving the public even more confused. Higher officials of Ministries, commissioners and mayors also seem to have found themselves entangled in the badly sewn web of provincial councils. This was well depicted in the controversy over the renaming of the Model Farm Road in Borella.

The renaming of the road from Model Farm Road to Ven. Pelpola Vipassi Himi Mawatha, was strongly opposed by the Local Government Commissioner who had issued a circular giving instructions that no roads should be changed to any name of a person who is still living. The matter was passed back and forth from the commissioner to the municipal authorities, and to the Minister of Local Government in the Western Province before the proposal was passed. Similarly, when The Sunday Times contacted these officials to question why the circular was violated, they refused to accept responsibility and referred us from one officer to another.

A look at projects claimed to have been completed by candidates at the forthcoming election shows that the PC system has only functioned as an office similar to a municipal council but with a larger area.

The Agrarian Services Department is one of the complicated bodies with two or more heads. According to the 13th amendment, the department is the responsibility of the PC but often the central government intervenes while in some provinces the branch stands alone.

A senior official at a Divisional Secretariat told the Sunday Times that the PC system involved a lot of officials, and lots of funds but with little results.

Overlapping functions and large cadres of employees were not the only minus points, but also a tendency for the PC to concentrate on the main district or town of the province. As a result, rural populations again have suffered due to neglect.

This is a common complaint made by many people from the outskirts who are often forced to come to the main district and sometimes sent all the way to Colombo.

Transfers were another area where The Sunday Times Investigation team found many administrative difficulties and clashes as reported in our previous investigations on provincial councils. Employees were found to be belonging to both the central government and the provincial councils as explained in teacher and doctor transfers. Even in the case of directors of education, health or other sectors, they found themselves struggling between the responsibilities to the central government and the provincial council.

Not only officers, but farmers also complain about the PC mudhole. They say they have to go round and round in obtaining seed paddy and thus they find it easier to get it from a private distributor though it is expensive.

An official of a provincial council explained that if a farmer so wished to obtain seed paddy, firstly he must forward the request to the area agrarian center, which would inform their agricultural advisor. Then it would be forwarded to the assistant provincial director of agriculture. The next step would be to inform the provincial agrarian assessment department under the provincial council if necessary and the agrarian service department before approaching the seed paddy distributors.

Of course, there is no necessity for all these steps, if the farmers approach the distributors directly, but then they won't get the subsidised rate. Under the previous system of central government the farmer only had to make his request directly to the agrarian services department which would often send the seed paddy to the farmer in a much shorter time than now. .Some farmers also complained that the situation was similar in obtaining tools and fertilizers from the provincial offices. Thus they again prefer to buy these items at higher cost directly from the private sector to avoid the administration hassles.

The Investigation team also found the large number of offices instituted under the PC itself to be a cause for the delay in getting work done. For example, in education matters, it was not only the minister of provincial education and the director of provincial education who were involved, but also zonal education offices, district and area education offices and so on. The hierarchy is so wide and confusing that even a simple question of employing a teacher has to get the approval of all the heads of all the departments including that of the central government Ministry.

Interference by central government ministers and officials in provincial council matters was sited as another reason for difficulties faced by the council authorities.

PC officials complained that often central government ministers or top officials interfere with the work of the provincial council largely for personal gain or popularity. When transfers are made by the provincial councils, ministers interfere and get them cancelled. This also happens in other appointments, promotions and even in projects, they said.

Despite a political battlefield to determine the next group of provincial council members, the system obviously has served or pleased hardly anyone except those who get personal benefits from it.

While hundreds of millions of rupees was spent or wasted on a defunct system which either needs to be updated to serve the people or gotten rid of, council members fatten themselves on the benefits of phones, vehicles, prestige, and other unofficial privileges that come with the title of provincial ministers.

Whom the provincial council system has served is a question worth asking. But more importantly, if under the circumstances, it need be continued.

'It is a big fraud!'

The Sunday Times team asked a random selection of the people what they knew about the provincial councils system and if it has assisted them.

The questions asked were:

-Who was the Chief Minister of their province?

-What do you know of the PC system?

-Have you benefited from it?

Surprisingly all of them claimed to have received little or no benefit from the system.

100% of them were indifferent towards it.

60% did not know who the outgoing Chief Minister was, and another

40% had no idea of functions related with the provincial councils.

Below are some of what the public had to say:

I.Nimal and R.G Chandana, civilians working for the army, in Gampaha didn't know much about the provincial council system or the name of the former chief minister. They said that they have not benefited from the system.

R.Rosario, an accountant, knew about the 13th amendment and the former chief minister's name. But was quick to add that this was not because of having benefited by the system.

"People were taken in to the government service by the provincial councils, right?," Gunadasa Gamage a bookseller asked. He did know the chief minister's name and claimed to have received no benefits either.

Samanthe Hevapathirana, a trader near the fort station, knew the ex Chief Minister's name but knew little of the functions of the Provincial Council. "I have not benefited from all this anyway," he said.

Mettananda Jayawardena knew who the ex -CM was but said that tax money went to the PCs and also that roads were maintained by them.

He was of the view that PCs only created more salaries for politicians.

Anura Kumarasena, a 25-year-old accountancy student from Wellawaya felt that the PC system was nothing more than just a way of busting people's hard-earned money.

"The politicians in the guise of serving the public are fattening their purses. That's what the whole provincial council system is all about, and as for the functions of the PCs you can refer the 13th amendment to the Constitution. It's all there in black and white. Well, if I remember right Karu Jayasuriya was the former chief minister of the Western Province," he said.

"I don't know who the chief minister was. To tell the truth, I couldn't care less. The PCs are responsible for transport, education, and health sectors in their respective areas, though God knows we've hardly benefited from it," said Tekla Ranjani, a 48 year old housewife from Hanwella who had no faith in either politics or politicians.

Eshani Gunewardene, a 20-year-old student had surprisingly very little knowledge about the provincial council system. She didn't know who the chief minister was or what its functions were, but was quick say that it served no useful purpose.

"Whatever the party that comes into power, they're not concerned about us poor people who live from hand to mouth. Politicians and their henchmen thrive while the poor become poorer," said 28 year old G. G. Indika.

His attitude towards the PCs was one of sheer indifference. He had no clue as to who the outgoing chief minister was.

M.Hilmi, a 28-year-old grocer from Maradana, had only negative answers to all three questions put forward to him.

So did W. A. Premadasa, a 67-year-old trader from Angoda. He said, "I don't know. These people haven't done anything for us. On the day of the elections we go cast our vote and elect them to office hoping that they would do something to solve our problems. Lucky are we if we ever see them again!"

A 39-year-old sales clerk from a book shop in Pettah, summed up the feelings of the majority and said, "I'm not interested in politics. These politicians don't come to office to serve us. It's not out of love for the common people that the PC system was created. It is a big fraud." He too couldn't come up with a positive answer to any of the three questions.

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