{"id":93444,"date":"2019-09-30T14:20:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T21:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93444"},"modified":"2019-09-30T14:20:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T21:20:34","slug":"how-does-the-public-service-work-can-the-presidential-aspirants-come-clean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/09\/30\/how-does-the-public-service-work-can-the-presidential-aspirants-come-clean\/","title":{"rendered":"How does Public Service Work? Can the Presidential Aspirants Come Clean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr D.Chandraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Given the rush to recruit personnel to the public service we need\nreassurance from the powers that be that the country is not condemned to be a\nbanana republic in South Asia for decades to come. Those of us who worked in\nthe Sri Lankan administrative service are generally aware of the methods and\nprocedures governing the recruitment, dismissal and retirement provisions of\npublic servants. Monies are allocated to different departments taking account\nof the budgetary requirements of the respective ministries. These monies are\nvoted under various heads, which guide the disbursement of funds. Strict\nregulations exist to prevent the illicit transfer of funds from different\ncategories of expenditure. All this because of the indisputable sanctity of\npublic money and the limits to the discretionary powers of those who are in\ncharge of the executive functions of accounting.  The authorized personnel exclude any who are\nrelated to the legislative functions of the state. So runs the public service,\nthe executive arm to guarantee the separation of powers needed for good\ngovernance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the public service functions in Sri Lanka which claims to have\nushered in Good governance and pristine democracy is puzzling to the average\ncitizen. What budgetary provisions were there in the Appropriation bills of the\nyear, which allow recruitment of thousands of public servants and Samurdhi\npayments overnight? Where do the monies come from? If they come from Consolidated\nrevenue were they approved by parliament under supplementary estimates? We are\naware that Sri Lankan politicians being the most corrupt in South Asia are\ncapable of bypassing any rule through vicarious procedures which, if at all,\nwere intended to be for one off events. Such expenditures had to be ratified subsequently\nthrough normal channels to avert unpredicted crises. But the practice, which\nwas a stop gap measure to avert a crisis, has become the norm and cabinet\npapers have become the easy way to manipulate the public purse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That the public servants of today have become the acquiescent\nunderlings of the Cabinet Ministers is well known and the rampant corruption in\nthe public service is not the exception anymore. Our knowledge of unbridled\ncorruption is through personal experience. In importing my used vehicle from Australia\nat every point I had requests to grease the palm of many a public official from\nthe customs to the Motor vehicle department. Every ounce of my effort expended\nto avoid paying bribes was hard to edcape and my patience was tested to the n’th\npoint. In getting my apartment the deed from the NHDA was another saga of gargantuan\neffort spruiced up with greasing the palm at every point. It is only in Sri Lanka\na legal contract signed with the Government Housing authority is not worth the\npaper, even in a court of law. They had changed the Master Plan after signing\nour contracts without our knowledge.  What\ndemocracy are we talking about? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How various ministers have stacked their departments with their men\nis an offence of mammoth proportions. In doing so you are putting on a burden\non the tax paying public for over many years. The recruits salary (not approved\nin the Treasury allowed cadre plus his pension, w & op thereafter plus the\nnew demand on the Ranaviru persons (outside the reasonable dues) to pay for the\nchildren until they reach 18 years is the extremity of the nanny state. Who can\nsustain an unproductive work force of this magnitude in this modern age? Imagine\na country with 225 MP\u2019s (mostly uneducated, who will not understand the fiscal\nor monetary repercussions of silly actions), 8000 odd absolutely wasteful local\nlegislators and another 15 to 20 lakhs of public servants who are mostly there\nfor welfare reasons than productive activity, what kind of economy can we build\nfor this country. Is the way out going be to send all our women as maids to\nevery corner of the planet and live on the blood, sweat and tears of the\nhapless poor? When we see the politicos who flit in and out of the President’s\nPalace in Mahagama Sekera Mawatha, in expensive limousines one cannot but curse\nthese good for nothing people pilfering the public purse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the new Presidential aspirants promise to stop this mass robbery\nof the public purse starting from the Country’s August law making body? Which presidential\naspirant will have this as an item in the manifesto if he\/she is serious about a\ncorrupt free administration. If you do not, even retrospectively, collect the\ntaxes they avoided by claiming some irregular loophole then the prospective\nPresident will never be for a corruption free administration. Remember that the\nrot must be cleaned from the head. Who will be man enough to turn the corner in\nthis ‘land like no other’? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr D.Chandraratna Given the rush to recruit personnel to the public service we need reassurance from the powers that be that the country is not condemned to be a banana republic in South Asia for decades to come. Those of us who worked in the Sri Lankan administrative service are generally aware of the methods […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-donald-chandraratna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93444","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=93444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}