Letters to the Editor
View(s):The malaise of our public servants and politicians
So, what then, is the real problem?
The main issue lies in the incapability of NPP members in government, coupled with the usual lethargy and inability of public servants to think beyond routine. Three recent examples illustrate this:
- A letter published in the newspapers highlighted how certain government offices refuse to accept original birth certificates.
- Another pointed to the unnecessary waste of time in queues.
- A third criticised irrational
rules adopted by both state and private banks.
As those readers rightly observed, these problems could be solved easily if management applied rational thinking.
Try writing to any state organisation, even the President’s Office. If you receive a reply, even just an acknowledgment, you might as well buy a sixty-million DLB lottery ticket, because you will surely be the winner. In 2022, a citizen wrote to the chairman of a state bank about a cumbersome process that forced him to leave without resolving his matter, despite the staff being helpful. Recently, he inquired whether the process had been simplified. The answer: “No.” He then forwarded the same letter through a friend connected to the present chairman. The response? “Oh, we get hundreds of letters like this…” And the matter was dropped.This is the mutually dysfunctional relationship we live with.
Our people believe that developing the country is solely the responsibility of politicians, while politicians assume it is the responsibility of the people. Ask someone not to throw garbage on the road, and the reply will be: “Why? Municipal workers are there!” The office worker who criticises bus crews of the bus he travels in for their behaviour often treats others just as poorly when he arrives at his workplace.
“Clean Sri Lanka” has become nothing more than three empty words.
S.K. Muthukumara Via email
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