Revisiting good governance with best practices

In Sri Lanka, there is an isolation of discussion on good governance with “patriotism”

Now Sri Lankans are witnessing the worst economic crisis with all hardships. Many models in the economy can be proposed. But there is a need to understand the real “problem” of this country. There should be a “change” coming from individuals. You cannot change the system unless you transform yourself. 

As the late Most Venerable Madihe Pannaseeha Mahathera mentioned, “One cannot develop a country in its true sense without the moral development of a man.” There is a need to change as individuals. In Sri Lanka, we can see many “branded radicals”. Sometimes you can see many from Facebook and social media. They simply use certain things to promote themselves with no real value. But you need to have a proper reading on this discourse of “branded radical” as we can see people only uttering words without any practice and understanding. But the problem we can see in society is that some followers (mainly on social media) get into a trap with these so-called “radicals”. And also the same can be seen with the concept of “good governance” as well.

We have observed that the discourse of “good governance” has been used by many. So it is worthwhile to observe this concept with the help of some different lenses. In “Wikipedia” good governance has been defined as “an indeterminate term used in international development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources. Anyway scholars argued the credibility of Wikipedia as the content can be changed by any party. Interestingly literature says there is no single and exhaustive definition of “good governance”. Even they like to relate this concept mostly in the context of developed countries. And also it is worthwhile for researchers to explore why and how these concepts like good governance, discrimination and domestic violence mainly come only in election time.

In Sri Lanka, there is an isolation of discussion on good governance with “patriotism”. People who discuss good governance have been totally unaware (or pretend to be unaware?) of the recent developments in the world. The country should learn the best practices of other countries. On 11 December in the year 2014 “The Times of India” published one article on how you can align both good governances with patriotism. See the following excerpts.

“Senior bureaucrats will soon visit schools across the country regularly to interact with students and generate their interest in nation building, ethics and good governance.

The combined initiative of the department of school education and literacy and department of personnel and training is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Teacher’s Day address to the students on September 5 this year. Modi had suggested that doctors, engineers and civil servants who wish to volunteer to teach select a school in their neighbourhood and visit it to share their learnings/experience.

Under the program, aimed at strengthening the moral fabric of the nation by instituting a sense of pride in nation building and sensitising the senior officers about the mindset and aspirations of the students, the officers can participate by volunteering to visit schools and share their perspective on topics such as ethics, nation building, environment protection, development, good governance issues, etc. Special emphasis may be laid on involving officers who have done a foreign posting/training/exposure, in the program proposed to be called ‘Sampark’, ‘Rashtra Nirman’ or ‘Garv’.”

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/senior-bureaucrats-to-visit-schools-on-a-regular-basis/articleshow/45463118.cms

This is one of the classic examples of best practices from neighbouring countries. This is the way you can articulate the word of good governance. I think in election manifestos leaders should incorporate the concepts such as good governance and there should be better debates on this to the awareness of the general public. But we can see people in some jargon like “Good Governance” without a proper operational definition for a developing country like Sri Lanka. We need to learn that from others, and I think this can be a good assignment for the country and for leaders.

(The writer is a Professor in Management Studies, Faculty of Management, Management Studies, The Open University of Sri Lanka. You can reach Professor Abeysekera on [email protected].)