Business and Public Affairs
Public service delivery and efficiency

By Sunil Karunanayake
Each time a government changes and new ministers are sworn in public confidence and expectations rise, frustration and disappointment sets in. Then comes the famous cabinet reshuffle, the enthusiasm of which too withers away after a short spell as living costs rise, unemployment increases, health and sanitary conditions deteriorate giving rise to new epidemics while corruption and lawlessness increase and social inequalities widen.

This vicious circle unfortunately has been the rule than the exception since the nineties with the emergence of unmanageably huge cabinets and a complicated ministry. The biggest casualty seems to be the public service. Can we expect efficiency from such a public service?

Departments are allocated to ministries by way of a gazette notification and this process has to be given lot of thought and study with public convenience in mind. However with frequent elections and even more cabinet reshuffles this process has now become chaotic and unproductive. After finding ministries for individuals and creating such opportunities for aspirants departments have to be allocated in a hurry and obviously this does not solve people’s problems but more public revenue is consumed adding burdens on people.

We feel that the government must keep the cabinet and its allocated key departments constant and allocate lesser important tasks to the deputies. The huge cabinet also causes a major space problem and once again taxpayer’s funds will be utilized to house these ministries in private buildings and residences. What is crucial is whether the huge cabinets could improve the delivery and efficiency in the public service. Public institutions play a dynamic role in serving the public needs servicing the people. Most common public offices are Grama Sevaka offices, Divisional Secretaries (formerly known ass AGA offices), District Secretaries (Kachcherries), Post offices, Motor vehicle Registry and licensing authorities, court houses, companies’ registry, land registry etc. The Grama Sevaka a pivotal link in the village renders a yeoman service under trying conditions. It is they who manage the initial process of the basic house holder registers which forms key registration document of all citizens. Land registries are a poor sight with obsolete processes. Moreover they remain manual and chaotic, room for corruption increases.

Most of these public institutions (creations of the colonial civil service) have hardly changed over the years with few exceptions. In the nineties, then President R. Premadasa through the “Gam Udawa” concept added some life to the GA’s and AGA offices and fax machines were installed for better communication. However since then not much progress has been achieved though some offices have obtained electronic mail connections.

Though e-Sri Lanka (ICTA) has been promoting IT usage in government departments, results to date are disappointing. Few simple changes and innovations to post offices and land registries which are highly dependent on manual procedures could make dramatic changes to the delivery of service. Post offices could be made to a wonderful multi service centre with least burdens on public funds may well become a profit centre. It could easily handle sale of government publications and educational material and provide a good service to the public. The UK civil service recently launched a series of efforts to push through rapid modernization in technology, buildings and processes along with the demands to change its culture. Recently the UK National Audit Office (NAO) commissioned the London School of Economics public policy group to examine the results of this exercise. Some of the innovative findings are interesting; Department of Health has established a customer service centre to handle all correspondence from the public. The Driver and Vehicle licensing agency has speeded up the renewal of driver licenses electronically. Other success stories are Army Base Repair, Legal Services Commission, Home office and Government procurement Agency.

Thought for the week
While most new and old ministers were in a festive mood with their families amidst Seth Pirith and magul bera with TV crews all round, it was interesting to note the brief message Sarath Amunugama the new Minister for Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion delivered at a simple ceremony.

Explaining the importance of investment, he said that without investment no jobs could be created, without jobs no family life is successful and this leads to a total failure in life. This is a good message that should be promoted similar to the present eye catching “Api wenuwen Api” programme.

Governments can no longer create jobs without proper investment and war conditions have stifled public investment. To meet the investment gap we need direct foreign investment. Donor funding is not the best way to finance investments adding to the debt. Email:suviak@eureka.lk