Janatha committees: People’s participation in governance

By M.H.M. Farook, FCMA (UK), CGMA   

The dollar crisis, the dropin the foreign reserves and the default of the repayment of the foreign loans, which aggravated in the first quarter of 2022 led to the curtailing of imports of essentials food items, medicinal drugs, gas, fuel and many more.

The suffering the people are undergoing is the cumulative effect of the economic mismanagement, corruption, abuse of power and political thuggery over a long period. Despite several warnings by those who are knowledgeable both in Parliament and outside Parliament, successive governments continued to indulge in these excesses. The two-thirds parliamentary majority the people gave the present government has beengrossly abused with impunity. Therefore, there is a need for people’s participation in governance through Janatha committees.

As the hardships the people undergoincreased day by day, the government became ineffective and unable to make essentials available in sufficientquantities to the people. The deteriorating situation was so unbearable that the people came to the streets in protest in early April and the crowd kept increasing not only in Colombo but in other towns as well. The protests were peaceful. The people are continuing the protests,despite the government’s various tactics to disperse the protesters.

The main causes of the crisis are bribery, corruption, robbery, wasteful expenditure and total disregard for effective fiscal management by successive governments particularly after 2005.

The protesters wanted the Presidentand the Prime Minister to resign and dissolve the government, and to some extent, succeeded in forcing the prime minister and the members of the Rajapaksa family to resign on May 9. The President also agreed to consider the alternatives suggested by the Bar Association and the protesters.

This limited success and the lessons learnt should be made use of to prevent  any future government from indulging in corrupt practices and abuse of power. The people power force should be converted to a permanent vigilante organization for consultation and regular dialogue with the government.

If this organization is to be effective, what is important is the setting up of a Commission with appropriate powers to punish those involved in fraud, bribery, corruption, robbery or any financial crime. If this is not done expeditiously, all other efforts aimed at good governance will become meaningless.

THE PURPOSE

The purpose of the proposed organization is to prevent a recurrence of crises of this nature. Prevention is better than cure.

If people vote a party into power assuming that the government will deliver what it promised and mind  their own business without any knowledge of what is actually happening, it amounts to courting a disaster. The purpose of forming this organization is to keep a constant watch on the performance of the government.

THE PROPOSED ORGANISATION

The structure of the proposed organization should be as follows:.

There should a committee in each of the 160 electorates.The membership in each committee should should be limited to a manageable number.

Suitable representatives from each of the Electoral Committee should be elected to form an Electoral District Committee in each of the 22 electoral districts. Members to the keypositions in the Electoral District Committee are elected. The membership in each District Committee should belimited to a manageable number.

Suitable representatives from each of the Electoral District Committee should be elected to a National Committee.In addition to representatives from the District Committees, professionals and experts in various fields should also be elected to the National Committee.

Electing of representatives to all these committees and the mode of selection should be based on certain criteria to be decided.

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEES

Electoral Committee (EC)

Government services within each electorate, projects, appointments and transfers of state or state-owned enterprise employees, budgetary allocations for expenditure within the electorate,nomination to local councils and Parliament should be in consultation with and approval of this committee.

Progress reports should be provided at regular intervals to the EC. The EC should study these reports and carry out inspection of the work of all Govt. institutions within the electorate. They should also peruse documents calling for Quotations/Tender and Project proposals, if necessary, call the authorities and experts whoprepared these documents to explain and justify the need for it and the expenditure.

Electoral District Committee (EDC)

Government services within the Electoral District, projects, appointments and transfers of state or  state-owned enterprise employees, within the District and budgetary allocations for expenditure in relevant electorates within the EDCshould be done in consultation with and the approval of the EDC.

National Committee (NC)

National policies,national plans including revenue proposals for the national budget, state services involving more than one electoral district, projects, appointments and transfers of stare or state-owned enterprise employees, should be in consultation with and approval of this committee. No commitment shall be made without the approval of the Committee.

Contribute to the formulation of national policies after consulting the Electoraland Electoral District committees, and participate in the implementation of approved policies.

LEGAL STATUS 

This organization should be responsible to the proposed COUNCIL OF STATE.