{"id":118756,"date":"2021-09-30T17:09:11","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T00:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=118756"},"modified":"2021-09-30T17:09:11","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T00:09:11","slug":"what-the-government-should-do-to-get-rid-of-the-present-financial-crisis-ailing-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/30\/what-the-government-should-do-to-get-rid-of-the-present-financial-crisis-ailing-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Government should do to get rid of the present financial crisis ailing the country?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sudath Gunasekara\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Definitely one doesn\u2019t need to be a\nfinancial or an economic wizard or a John Keynes to un-mess this mess that has\nemerged as a direct result of mismanagement of the nation\u2019s economy by all\nthose who were in charge of Governance in this country, since 1977. What you\nneed is only common sense and the guts to take a decision do it. Therefore the\nfollowing set of proposals is listed here for the consideration and immediate\naction by the Government.\u201dLindata wetunu\nminiha linkatenma goda enta one\u2019<\/em> is the most appropriate adage I can quote\nhere. This mess is nothing but a collective mess created by our own\npoliticians. Therefore the onerous of taking the full responsibility for this\nnational crime as well as finding a suitable remedy for the malady, they\nthemselves have jointly created, also falls definitely on all their heads,\nincluding those who are dead and gone to hell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present government must take\nthese decisions immediately before the situation become worse that might lead\neven to a civil war against it, going by the way how things are already getting\nout of control around the country. A stitch in time saves nine. But in doing so\nI must warn the government that it has to completely forget about the vote fever,\nbecause it is your responsibility and unbounded duty by the nation at this\ncritical time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

35 very\nimportant steps that have to be taken immediately to ease the present crisis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Stop all extravagant and wasteful expenses\nof the government<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Ban the import of all luxury and\nnon-essential goods<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Increase the prices of local\nproducts to encourage local production<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Remove extra perks to all\npoliticians and public Servants (It is said that 85% of national income is\nspent on maintaining politicians and public servants supposed to be the highest\nper-man ratio in the world)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Stop all state tamasas and useless\npolitical functions for image building and meetings of public servants to the\nbare minimum limiting them to the most essentials.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 Close down all Governors Offices\nand allow the Government Agents and Divisional AGAA and Grama Seva Niladharis\nto run the Administration and Coordination of development in their Districts,\nDivisions and Graama Niladhari Units <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 Close down the 9 Provincial\nCouncils epidemic permanently now that they have ceased to function almost for\nthe past 5 years without any disruption of day to day to governance of the\ncountry. Attach\u00e9 public servants displaced as a result to suitable Government\noffices in the districts<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Use the PG buildings to\nhouse public offices presently housed on rented out buildings.<\/li>
  2.  And transfer the functions done by the PCC to\nthe GAA\u2019s and AGAA\u2019s offices and the respective line Ministry sub-offices in\nthe Districts so that the smooth delivery of services to people will continue\nuninterrupted.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    8 Scrap all superfluous government\ninstitutions such as mushroom Ministries, Departments and statutory bodies created\nto provide jobs for supporters of politicians<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    9 Reduce the number of Ministers and\nMinistries to 15 and appoint a Minister and a Deputy under him to run each\nMinistry instead of having 70 different Ministries, 30 Cabinet and 40 State Ministers,<\/strong> (as if the Cabinet\nMinisters are not Ministers of the Sri Lankan State at present) in this small\ncountry just to provide employment for a set of unproductive Politicians at\nhigh cost just to keep them satisfied with no substantive contribution to the\ncountry but has only increased  duplication, waste, corruption, confusion, inefficiency\nand rivalry among them. This move will drastically reduce the number of wasteful\ninstitutions, excess officials, waste and corruption and also reduce hundreds\nof government institutions that waste billions of public funds with no\nsubstantive contribution to the country but making us a nation of beggars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    10 Close down all the Embassies and\nConsular Offices of smaller countries and ask the nearest Embassy to overlook\nthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    11 Close down all Pradeiya Sabhas\n(mere duplicates of Provincial Councils) and go back to the former VC system\nand allocate PS buildings to line departments working in the areas, and assign\nthe present Members to their respective Village Council areas to work under the\nDistrict Commissioners of Local Government<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    12 Stop payments for all officials\nfor attending meetings, as they are only part of their official duties<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    13Limit the number of vehicles and\npersonal staff to Ministers and Deputies including security<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    14 Withdraw official vehicles from\nall public officers and let all public servants to have their own vehicles to\ndo their official travelling and pay a commuted allowance and mileage for\ntravelling out of duty stations on official duties. Provide them with a loan to\nbuy a vehicle like in the past for which the Govt need not provide drivers or\nfuel. It is interesting to note that even in America, whhic is supposed to be\nthe richest country in the world no politician or public servant is given\nofficial vehicles, drivers or fuel and they have to pay even for parking in the\nparking lots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    15 Never renew the duty free Vehicle\nsystem to anybody including politicians and public servants. However the\nGovernment may have a system of duty free system of vehicles, machinery and raw\nmaterial etc under strict and close supervision for agricultural and Industrial\nsector to promote development in those sectors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    16 Let the Public Servants run the\nMinistries under the general supervision of the respective Ministry\nSecretaries. Do away with the present practice of providing a band of personal\nstaff that virtually run the Ministries today making it a mockery and a mere\npolitical party office killing the spirit and the essence of an impartial\npublic service. Provide only a private Secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    17 Stop providing houses for\nPoliticians in Colombo. Instead provide them with a common place, like in the\npast (Sravasti) for them to stay when they come to Colombo on duty for the 8\ndays they are expected to attend so that they will be compelled to live in\ntheir electorates for the rest of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Transactions\nin Embassies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    18 Get the Diplomats to attend to all\ngovernment to Government business and cut down all unnecessary foreign travel\nfor politicians except under very special situations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The need to\nhave the Supply and Cadre Division in the Treasury reactivated and strictly\ncomplied with its rules and regulations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    19 Get the Treasury to have fixed\ncadre for all Ministries and Government Departments and statutory bodies and\ncorporations that should not be exceeded without the prior approval of the\nTreasury to expenditure under treasury control and to stop packing public\ninstitutions with unqualified political appointees  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    20 Remove all excess staff of all\npublic institutions as early as possible after a quick survey by the Supply and\nCadre Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    21 Give all Government institutions\ndaily, monthly and annual targets to ensure that every person does a quantum of\nwork for the money he\/she is paid and hold the heads of the Divisions responsible\nfor running those institutions efficiently and profitably<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Payment of fabulous\nsalaries for certain public Sector employees <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                                                                                                                                     \n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   22 Stop all fabulous salary payments\nmade to some people Like the Chairman of Air Lanka for example which was\nreported in the press few days ago as Rs 32 lahks a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Recovery\nof CB scan money<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    23Take immediate action to recover\nmoney robed from the CB and confiscate the properties of all found guilty in\naddition to other punishments under law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    24 Entrust Administration to\nprofessional public servants and stop politicians from meddling with day to day\nAdministration of Government institutions and thereby disrupting smooth\ngovernance of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    25 Also close down Regional and\nDivisional offices of Government Departments and corporations etc opened in the\nrecent past just to recruit more people to public Service as a fashion without\nconsidering the ramifications involved in public spending with no parallel\nimprovement in the delivery of public services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    National Austerity\nYear<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    26 Declare a national Austerity year\nand Agricultural Production year and give top priority for self-sufficiency and\nexport development in the agricultural sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Remove all\nduel citizens from Parliament<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    27 Remove all Ministers and MPP who\nare dual citizens both in the Govt and the opposition in Parliament immediately\nas they are persons with divided allegiance and keep those places vacant until\na general election  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Inquire in to assets of MPP in Parliament form\n1977<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    28 Initiate actions to Identify\nPoliticians who have been in Parliament from 1970 and investigate their assets\nat the time of joining and the present and confiscate all wealth proved had\nbeen illegally a)amazed and remove the civil right of those found guilty for\nlife<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Defeated\nPoliticians holding public positions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    29 Remove all defeated and ex-politicians\nholding appointments as Diplomatas, and any other post at Home like Chairmen of\nstate institutions and replace them with professional men who can do those jobs\nto increase efficiency and profit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The need for <\/strong>a vigorous national food Production Drive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    30 Commence a vigorous National food\nProduction Drive in the agricultural and livestock sectors with a full gear of\nthe Government like loans, implements, fertilizer, guaranteed prices and\nextension services, storage and marketing facilities for domestic and export\nmarket with incentives like tax concessions to be followed up with a staggered\nimport ban on all items on all Agricultural an dallied products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Reduce the\nnumber of politicians and public servants in the country<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    31 I have found that the number of\nPoliticians and public servants has undergone a tremendous increase since 1977\ndue to increasing the number of public institutions and multiplying\nadministrative divisions like GS and Local Government units. As a result it has\nbeen reported that today there is one politician for every 3232 persons and one\npublic servant for every 16 people in this country and 85 % of annual public\nrevenue is spent on the upkeep of politicians and public servants. This I think\nis the highest figure for any country in the world. In addition to this curse,\nis the very high expenditure on social welfare, like health, education and\npublic relief that has to be met with the balance 15 %. No wonder the country\u2019s\neconomy has fallen to this level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Reduce the\nextremely high number of Public holidays for any country in the world as it we\nare living in the Aalakamandaava<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    32 Reduce the extremely high number\nof Public holidays to internationally accepted average of 12 per year to increase\nthe number of man days that could be gainfully used for development<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example you can use the following\nmodel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    National Holidays<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1April 13th<\/sup> and 14th<\/sup>\nSinhala New Year day    2days<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2 Vesak Poya                                                      2\ndays<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3 Republic Day May 22                                     1\nday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4 Poson Poya Jatika dinaya                              1 day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5 National heroes Day (has to be\ndecided)   1 Day (May 9) LTTE Defeat <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Optional Public Holidays. Sundays 12\/\nor the balance 10 Depoya Common to all  \nto be decided after discussion. This will make the total no of Public\nholidays  either  17 or 19  This will boost production in all sectors due\nto an increase in the number of working hours            <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    All other holidays presently declared\nas National Holidays like Christmass, Good Friday. Maha Sivaratri, Deepawali Thaipongal,\nMohomads Birth Day, Hajji Festival, Ramasan Should be declared holidays only\nfor the respective religious communities. This I think is the best arrangement\nany Government should make to protect the country\u2019s Sinhala Buddhist identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    33 Withdraw political rights from all\npublic servants, other than the right to vote to bring back discipline and\nsanity to public service so that we can have an efficient and productive and\ndisciplined loyal public service under strict supervision of the immediate supervisory officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    34 Remove the 29 National list MPP\nfrom Parliament who are not elected by the people by a motion with the\nconsensus of other parties pending Amendment to the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    35 Stop payment of bonuses and\novertime in all institutions that don\u2019t show a profit in their annual balance\nsheets and also make annual confidential reports compulsory in all Ministries,\ndepartments and statutory institutions <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Important: I\nrequest some one knowledgeable and competent to calculate the net savings that\nwould accrue to the Government under the implementation of each of these items,\nif they are implemented.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is only\na few important ideas that came to one man\u2019s head at random. I invite readers\nto add any other important issue that comes to their mind to make the operation\na fuller success.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                     <\/strong>\u0db4\u0dcf\u0dbd\u0d9a\u0dba\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dca\u0da7<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0dab\u0dd4\u0dc0\u0db1<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0db4\u0dc4\u0dbd<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0dc0\u0dda\u0dc0\u0dcf<\/strong>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                         <\/strong>\u0db8\u0d9c\u0dda<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0dbb\u0da7\u0dad\u0dca<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0da2\u0dcf\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dba\u0dad\u0dca<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0db8\u0dda<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0d85\u0dbb\u0dca\u0db6\u0dd4\u0db0\u0dba\u0dd9\u0db1\u0dca<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0d9c\u0ddc\u0da9<\/strong> <\/strong>\u0d92\u0dc0\u0dcf<\/strong> ! <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dr Sudath Gunasekara\u00a0 Definitely one doesn\u2019t need to be a financial or an economic wizard or a John Keynes to un-mess this mess that has emerged as a direct result of mismanagement of the nation\u2019s economy by all those who were in charge of Governance in this country, since 1977. What you need is only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sudath-gunasekara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}