Public officials in a bind
Sri Lanka’s public administration has been caught between the devil and the deep blue sea due to worsening political uncertainty prevailing in the country during the past three weeks.
Officials of state institutions are reluctant to carry out orders of new superiors due to doubts of legitimacy of their appointments under the present political environment, a veteran public official told the Business Times.
The top bureaucracy comprised mostly of political appointees or persons with political affiliations, he said adding that the President’s recent ad hoc appointments to key posts in state institutions has ground the public service to a halt. This has also resulted in neglecting official functions at key strategic state institutions and revenue collection authorities, official sources said.
Police STF security has been deployed in 32 key state institutions to defuse any disruptions to public service, according to a decision taken at the Security Council meeting chaired by the President recently. The Presidential Secretariat has notified all heads of government departments, chairmen of state corporations, statutory boards and state banks to step down as the tenure of the existing Cabinet of Ministers stands dissolved.
Informed sources revealed that the Chairmen and Directors of most of the state institutions had taken a decision not to resign from their posts as ordered.
Newly appointed acting Director General of Government Information Nalaka Kaluwewa issued the relevant notification recently on the directions of the President. Several heads of key state institutions including the Chairman of Sri Lankan Airlines Ranjith Fernando and National Savings Bank Chairman Aswin De Silva have resigned from their posts recently.
But Kapila Chandrasena, appointed as the new chairman at the national carrier, had to quit less than 24 hours after being appointed following protests by a section of the management. Mr. Chandrasena is facing allegations of irregular decisions during his earlier tenure as CEO.
The United National Party (UNP) has urged public officials to recognize the cabinet of ministers under ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe or face the consequences.
In an authoritarian move, Chairman of state-run Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), P.G. Kumarasinghe Sirisena, a brother of the President, has instituted a massive reorganisation process amidst protests of workers. This transformation has been announced by Mr. Kumarasinghe in a circular dated 02-11 -2018 a week after President Sirisena’s move to remove the cabinet of ministers.
A letter to the SLT Chairman signed by Presidents and Secretaries of eight trade unions, noted that “as a result of implementing this sudden massive organization structural change it seems that SLT has to bear high initial cost and operational cost and it would affect the financial status of the company in negative way.”
Similar immediate administrative actions have been instituted by newly appointed secretaries to the ministries and heads of departments confusing subordinate senior officials and raising the issue of who is the rightful head of the institution.