Battling ineptitude

Several reports in the media have highlighted gross negligence and ineptitude by public servants this week and have increased the need for strong action, especially in the health sector.

Reports gave credible accounts of how staff at the Accident Ward completely ignored an emergency patient who was vomiting blood after being thrown off a bus while just a day later a four-year-old child died in a hospital in Rathtota because doctors preferred to watch TV rather than attend to him. Such instances of inhuman inaction need to be addressed in the strongest possible terms and mechanisms to improve efficiency need to be implemented across the board urgently.

Administrative reforms are a long-acknowledged need of Sri Lanka. Yet their cumbersome and politically sensitive nature has meant that most plans get shelved or take painfully long amounts of time and resources to be implemented. The net result is that most people lump the estimated 1.2 million public employees in Sri Lanka into one large barrel of inefficiency without bothering to separate the good from the bad.

Perhaps the worst apples are found among the ministries where cronyism and corruption are found working hand in glove. The fact that the largest loss-making State-Owned Enterprises are directly linked to ministries that for decades have done little to set them on the right path of good governance and profitability might be one universal reason for this thinking.

Be that as it may, individual evaluations of ministries might be a good idea, if it could have visible results. This means that the people have to see a real change in the way the ministry operates and how it interacts with its stakeholders and achieves its goals. For this a few lessons from the private sector and the world at large would in order.

Firstly, the monitoring needs to be consistent and done over a long period of time. One visit, even from the President, is just that – one visit. If real change is the aim, then the overseeing needs to be regulated with the assistance of the Treasury. The involvement of the latter is important because it is the source of funding for the ministries and their projects. Ensuring that public money is used for public good with projects that are done on time and within budget is a massive need.

Interlinked with these is the need to reduce red tape, increase transparency and engagement. These three elements are essential for a number of reasons. One is that it will increase efficiency while enabling the authorities to understand what the people really need. If processes are made transparent and accessible, then it will be a major deterrent for corruption. Given that Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption measures lack teeth, this would allow a ‘people-centred’ monitoring system, which would strengthen good governance. Such frameworks would also function as a performance indicator for the various projects and increase budget efficiency.

Making people the centre of development is necessary for equitable and sustainable development. The oft-heard argument that having checks and balances in place delays projects does not hold water if there is an efficient public service to bolster discussions and address concerns. People losing their homes, insufficient compensation, environmental degradation and unsustainable development would all be nipped in the bud.

There is a huge difference in being seen to do good and actually do good. Eventually the people will understand this and hopefully act on it to create constructive monitoring.