“May the ruler be righteous”
View(s):At a recent Colombo discussion on the “Right to development” for people of all ages, race, creed, colour and community; respected academic Prof. Savitri Goonesekere drew reference to the Buddhist stanza at the end of Sri Lanka’s Constitution, which concludes with the line “May the ruler be righteous.” She noted with emphasis that those who wield political authority must realize that their authority derives solely from their ability to serve the public.
This came to my mind given a few significant developments in the past week, two in particular which is notable of mention: Permanent Secretaries of ministries taking part in the opening of a ruling party election office, and the alleged assault of Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Chris Nonis at an event in New York by an influential Sri Lankan official.
Earlier this week the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party opened an office at Gregory’s Road to prepare for next year’s Presidential Election and it was declared open by Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, according to news reports.Present on the occasion was Secretary to the Ministry of Economic Development Dr. Nihal Jayatilleke, Chairman of the National Delimitation Commission Jayalath Ravi Dissanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology Gotabaya Jayaratna, Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Highways R.R. Premasiri, Secretary to the Ministry of Industries and Commerce Anura Siriwardene, Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media and Information Charitha Herath, and the Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivaard Cabral, according to the reports which have neither been denied nor clarified, so far.
Is this ethical and/or in line with ARs and FRs of Government regulations? Many, many years ago – however, at a different time and place when governance, transparency, accountability and loyalty to the ‘real’ owners of public assets (the people) were the norms of the day – public officers would hide in shame if seen at such an event. They would not stoop to that level and had the gumption to say ‘No” if asked by politicians, who on the other hand also knew the rights and responsibilities of government officials, and such favours were not sought. That kind of scenario never too place and the public service – which included the likes of G.V.P. Samarasinghe, Lakshman de Mel, W.T. Jayasinghe, Jayantha Kelegama, D.B.I.P.S. Siriwardena, Sarath Amunugama (before he turned politician) and many others – worked tirelessly for the benefit of the people.
Government officials are servants of the people, not servants or slaves of ministers. Unfortunately in today’s context they have become ‘yes’ men even though they are within their right to say ‘No’. This is not saying that there are no dedicated public servants today who work as hard as their predecessor but they don’t go far due to their independent thinking and sticking by the book.
Thus in the absence of a strong public service, a new breed of super-bureaucrats have evolved over the years with officials, for example, like Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera and Central Bank Governor Cabraal calling the shots, on any aspect of the economy. They are above board and are hardly reprimanded if there is a flaw. A classic example was the sequence of events relating to Dr. Jayasundera in a case before the Supreme Court.
The Central Bank governor on the other hand has extended the boundaries of his mandate canvassing support for the government for even sporting events, arguing some years ago that the Central Bank has a role to play in the development of the country and that the regulator has a role to play in anything that connects with development.
Cabraal is not the only regulator involved in the politics of government. Another regulatory official, much in the news recently, is taking an even more active role by taking part in regular meetings of a high-powered election campaign team for the ruling party.
The Indian system is what Sri Lanka needs to emulate – particularly its independent public service and virtually-untouchable media. According to an anecdote related at the recent meeting; during a conference, a powerful Indian Minister had wanted a senior public official/secretary to go back to his office and bring a particular report. The secretary had responded –“Minister there is a way to do things. I don’t move than fast” and stayed put. The matter ended there.
What would have happened in Sri Lanka? The poor secretary may have got mauled, assaulted, kicked in the gut.The aftermath was even hilarious (that’s how Sri Lankans have come to consider these episodes): The Media Minister first tells reporters that Nonis has resigned, then quickly calls Minister G.L. Peiris (whether he called the minister of not is also not sure given the extent to which ministers dupe the public these days believing a sucker is born every minute) and corrects his earlier statement saying, Nonis has not resigned.
If the incident was outrageous to Sri Lankans, the country has become the laughing stock of the world.
In the meantime the President goes on record saying the good things (development-wise) that happens in Sri Lanka are unappreciated. To some extent the President may be right. However a government has an obligation (it is compulsory) to do good; and develop the country, that’s why the ruling party was elected. It certainly can’t tolerate bad behaviour and promote corruption (which comes in many forms not only cash incentives). That is unacceptable.
A compulsory pre-requisite for development and foreign investment is the rule of law, government and transparency and a judiciary that is independent. Sri Lanka needs investment to grow its industry, otherwise it cannot survive. And being in the middle-income bracket of countries, means Sri Lanka is not entitled to concessional credit or grants by lending agencies.
However ‘small’ these incidents – bashing of Nonis – would be projected by the government, it has appeared in the world media and, given the local mainstream media’s cautious approach to reporting ‘sensitive’ issues, banned Sri Lankan websites are going to town with the story. At least the government should have issued a statement (even if muted), on their version of events. In the absence of anything, the tendency is to believe anything that is reported, even though one sided.
Given the kind of policies that dictate the direction this country is taking, one can only thing of the idiom – “Neva Gulunath Band Choon” to describe the state of play in Sri Lanka.