ASSIGNING PRESIDENTIAL MANIFESTO SUBJECTS TO MINISTRIES
Posted on November 24th, 2019
By M D P DISSANAYAKE
The 15 Cabinet Ministers’ workload is quite challenging. Each Minister needs to have at least 2 State Ministers. Each State Minister needs to have qualified Professionals and Academics, consisting of at least one identified in each of the allocated Subjects.
In other words, the structure should provide a direct link to each Page in the Saubhagaya Dekma ( the Presidential Manifesto or Vision and Mission Statement of the President) assigning the commitments made to the public.
Neither Ministers nor State Ministers are qualified to implement the Manifesto. They are politicians. The Establishment Hierarchy at the Ministries such as Secretaries (previously Permanent Secretaries) and the rest will be responsible for implementing the decisions, within FR and AR. But looking at the Manifesto and Implementing the tasks is not their responsibility. They are different kinds of Animals of their own, within the Box. That responsibility should remain within the Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers, and the Professionals and Academics.
The primary objective of the structure will be to ensure developing short term targets for each Subject. The IT Professionals could quite easily develop a package of Targets vs Performances matrix with drill-down analysis for each State Minister and Cabinet Minister. It will also highlight critical areas where Performances are falling behind the Target and the reasons, with an appropriate plan for remedial actions.
When the Prime Minister and the President review achievements, probably fortnightly, the implementation progress can be measured.
In the long run- some State Ministers and even Cabinet Ministers, need to be provided extensive training on the Performance Evaluation essentials.
In the first three months, the Prime Minister and the President can obtain first-hand information on capabilities of Professionals, Academics, State and Cabinet Ministers, which will be valuable going forward.
The Vision and Mission Statement of the President should become the Bible for the Cabinet, State Ministers, and the Advisors.