Of ‘honest’ officials and ‘honest’ politicians
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Some years back, just after the ‘famous’ victory of the Yahapalanaya brigade that brought the Maithripala Sirisena- Ranil Wickremesinghe-led political group into power, strong efforts were made to take action against allegedly-corrupt officials of the past.Many cases were filed and one in particular against two corporate bigwigs for endorsing a move by a state agency – where they served as directors – to finance a religious programme that was perceived as a political stunt, went to court. The two officials were detained in prison but subsequently exonerated as the charges couldn’t be proved. The duo and their families suffered immensely over this injustice.
There were many such cases which fell short of prosecution owing to lack of evidence. One infamous issue was of a minister demanding a bribe for a Japanese project which offended the Japanese and resulted in some high profile Japanese-funded projects being suspended (these have now been restarted under the current regime).
Now, many of these cases are being unearthed again, as the new regime seeks to raise the ghosts of the past and hunt crooked politicians and officials, but often the case has been that officials were forced to bow down to the minister’s wishes. While there may be a few corrupt officials, by and large, most of the officials were forced to make decisions against government procedures and guidelines and now find they may be in the firing line of alleged corruption.
Currently, there are alleged corruption issues over coal tenders, the Colombo airport expansion project, LPG procurement, the Colombo Port and many others.
But one of the biggest challenges the current administration is facing is that the wheels of procurement are moving slowly, hampering the work, progress and the promises the NPP government made, as officials are reluctant to sign off on contracts – and face possible criminal charges by the next, incoming regime (given the experience of the past) – and are sticking to the archaic Administrative Regulations (AR) and Financial Regulations (FR) in approving these projects. On the other hand, there are many cracks in these rules which were used by those who governed in the past.
But these rules by and large are cumbersome and delay the progress of the current regime which wants to go by the book and which is reluctant to bend the rules to speed up the process given the experience of tainted projects of the past.
As I delved deeper into this topic, an early morning caller on Thursday, my jolly-mood economist friend, Sammiya (short for Samson), was also, it appeared on the same page. “I was wondering about the issues surrounding the nation branding campaign governing tourism. Why is this being delayed?” he asked. “Well…..this campaign has been 10 years in the making and the eternal stumbling block has been the entire procurement process,” I said.
“While this is happening other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam (more than 14 million tourists so far this year, while Sri Lanka struggles to get over 2 million), are running away with our potential guests as their campaigns get wide publicity and success,” he said. “That is unfortunately the case,” I agreed.
The nation branding campaign for the tourism sector has been struggling to get off the ground for over a decade under different regimes largely due to the procurement process that governs projects of this nature. At one point in the past, many such hurdles were overcome but just as the tourism campaign was about to get started, a new government took office and new political appointees were installed and with that, the process was started all over again.
The lack of a nation branding campaign has frustrated the private sector, which virtually funds the promotion campaign through the cess/tax paid for each tourist arrival and many industry officials have been urging the current government to fast-track the process.
While officials in the current administration are reluctant to ‘rock the boat’ by circumventing the rules with due diligence and speeding up the approval process – lest they be charged in the future for violating the rules in line with common practice – the harried industry, rather than waiting, is considering crafting its own promotion campaign, according to a recent report in the Sunday Times Business, a move viewed with dismay by government officials.
In the meantime, Sri Lanka continues to draw accolades and worldwide plaudits for its’ excellent, all-round (beaches, culture, nature, wildlife and simplicity) product. A nation branding campaign will, if got off the ground quickly, elevate it to 3-million plus tourist arrivals (from 2.5 million now).
But ‘quick’ is not in the lexicon of the tourism industry administrators. Instead the view of the administrators is that social media campaigns and use of influencers provide a better return than large, costly nation branding campaigns.
As the to-and-fro battle continues between officials and the industry in the tourism sector, there are other procurement issues cropping up in many other state sector projects with one being the long-delayed Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) Phase II (Stage 2) expansion project.
In this case, however, the issue has been glaring cracks in the procurement system, raising concerns of official interference and malpractices. The process, initially expected to be completed by mid-2025, has now been extended to an unknown date allegedly to favour one of the companies vying for the contract.
After this long ‘conversation’ (with my computer), I walked to the kitchen to get my second mug of tea. The trio, it appeared, was in the kitchen, instead of the usual meeting place – under the margosa tree – and sipping tea. After wishing them well, I picked up my tea and as I moved out of the kitchen heard snippets of their conversation.
“Aanduwa dahas ganan aluth rassawal denna lasthi-wenava upadi-darinta saha ussas-pela samath ayata (The government is offering thousands of new jobs for graduates and A-Level qualified persons),” said Kussi Amma Sera. “Apey gamey inna, rassawal nathi magey bala nadeyo illum paththara arala athi kiyala mama balaporoththu wenava (I hope my young, unemployed relatives in the village have also applied),” noted Serapina. “Mae rassawal walata manthrigen liyamanak avashya nethi wewi kiyala mama balaporoththu wenva, issara wagey (I hope these jobs don’t require a letter from the MP in the area which is always the case),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu.
No doubt, the procurement process needs an overhaul and streamlining to eliminate delays in approving contracts and tenders, but at the same time it should also ensure proper safeguards to protect officials who may be asked to bend the rules or as retribution, face a possible transfer or delay in promotion.
At the end of the day, what Sri Lanka requires is a speedy, corruption-free set of rules and guidelines in approving contracts and tenders for government projects that would avoid sullying the name of an honest official but also that of an honest minister.
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