A reversal of time

Saturday, 17 December 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In ancient Sri Lanka, kings were called on to solve the problems of the people; indeed every problem of note ended up with the king, who called together his officials and his subjects and solved the issue. Present day Sri Lanka, despite having evolved into the democracy, bears a striking resemblance to those bygone days.

Perhaps they are not that bygone after all, as successive events have proved in the past; it seems that the officials, ministers and other authorities of this country cannot fulfil their duties without the express command of the President – a situation that is tragic for a country that considers itself to be a democracy.

The idea behind democracy, at a very basic level, hinges on the sharing of power and of all officials – public or otherwise – being able to function and carry out their duties in the interests of the country. It is questionable whether that is happening, with every crisis ending up at the President’s feet. The latest debacle of the plastic crates is one such example, where the Minister is question was not able to discharge his duties with due consideration of all stakeholders and had to run to the President for assistance.

Given the sensitivity of the plastic crates issue and the very real impact on the masses, there was need for immediate action to resolve the stalemate between the traders and the Ministry. What is surprising is why the Minister could not come to an agreement with the traders through discussions in the same manner as the President. Is it a fact that he did not have the same access? Or information? Or perhaps lacked the ability to tackle the situation without ending up in a tangle?

There is nothing wrong with hands-on leadership, it is in fact of the true hallmarks of a true leader, but it is also equally important to delegate, take responsibility for one’s actions and fulfil the assigned duties. Therefore, what is the point of having ministers at all if the decisions and actions that should be taken by them eventually end up with the President? Would it not make more sense to do away with these seat-warmers?

The outcome of specific vegetables being exempt from being transported in crates and the overall law being suspended for one month surely do not require the wisdom of the fabled King Solomon to achieve? Moreover, it is discouraging that the Government has still not realised that most post-harvest losses are incurred when vegetables are stored rather than transported, which builds a case for opening cold rooms at economic centres and providing better infrastructure such as railway to link the hubs efficiently.

The crates are in many ways not the complete solution to the problem of post-harvest losses, which in itself has not been completely solved despite the hullabaloo created by the Minister. It is telling that even though the Minister insists that the usage of plastic crates was promoted to traders for over two years, even Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa called on him to engage with farmers more, proving that the message was inadequately delivered.

An article published on Friday says that the Budget allocated Rs. 1.6 billion to run Parliament, which works out to Rs. 4.4 million a day – surely this is a waste of public money, given the current status?