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Running a state bureaucracy is expensive and have to get our money's worth. The entire political establishment depends on what the ordinary people pay in terms of direct and indirect taxes. Look at the number of official vehicles that are parked in front of government buildings. Even those vehicles are maintained at public expense. All government institutions are established in order to promote public welfare. They exist to serve the people but the question we must ask is, do those institutions do their job properly. All are practicing crisis management. Health, Education and Transport systems in our country fail to provide efficient and effective services to the public. But we are spending all the public money to maintain them? The sad truth is that we have not made the optimum use of the public money spent to maintain those government establishments. I think the government institutions can contribute in a more active manner if they are guided by long term structural reforms.
We need systematic long term planning. The government must rely more on knowledge. We can’t change them by posters, cut outs and banners to bring about the changes that are required to curb all malpractices and establish good governance. The knowledge of the scholars must be utilized effectively for the well-being of the country. The government must mobilize them properly to benefit key areas such as poverty, conflict resolution, education, health and construction of infra-structure developments (roads, irrigation, water supply, electricity, drainage etc.) I have nothing against Lawyers but many politicians think that lawyers can be appointed as political appointees. What is the purpose of not having other specialized professionals such as Engineers, Doctors etc., being appointed.
A merit based allocation of resources is required when making political appointments. Knowledge has a key role to play in politics. This is vital since politics is the way we manage public affairs which is complex by nature. We need long-term structural reforms in terms of research based national policies to address the problems faced by the country in political, economical and social and cultural facets.
We hope that the new government would take these fundamental ideas and utilize them to manage public affairs in a much more organized manner. It is the only way that people can look forward for a better future and stop planning their next step to Middle East seeking (house made job/ carpenter or mason) job opportunities.
I think productivity improvement in our country is our responsibility. The political leadership must play the leading role in this respect.
By Eng. (COL) N. GUNATILAKE. CEng FIE(SL), MBIM(UK)
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