Political patronage

Friday, 22 July 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Highways and Higher Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella made the news again for the wrong reasons after giving employment to 45 loyalists as “consultants” to institutions under his care, throwing the whole concept of good governance out the window.

The consultants are paid Rs. 65,000, adding to nearly Rs. 3 million shelled out from public funds per month in salaries. Adding insult to injury, the minister told parliament that it was necessary to “appreciate” voters who had ensured a resounding Government victory in Kandy. According to the minister, the Government won the Kandy District with a majority of 81,000 votes at the presidential election and with a majority of 131,000 votes at the parliamentary election.

However, what the minister has apparently forgotten is that at least a percentage of Kandy voters and many hundreds of thousands of others in the rest of the country voted because they wanted a change. They voted for President Sirisena and then later for the United National Party (UNP) because they were fed up of the corruption and cronyism that was pandemic in the previous regime.

The coalition Government came into power and was formed on the basis of changing this system and infusing good governance into every level of Government. It is true that in terms of numbers 65 employees is not a significant amount but it is symbolic of an archaic, politicised, self-serving system that the Government, which Kiriella is a senior member of, came into power promising to change.

What politicians firmly entrenched in the old order have not yet realised is that this Government is being held to far higher standards than the previous one. Simply offering the staid and threadbare argument that worse oversights were committed by the previous Government does not exonerate the members of the present administration. The excesses of the previous Government were the very reason they were voted out of power.

Adding to an already bloated public sector makes little sense, especially given the deep economic crisis the Government is facing, in part because of massive losses suffered by over-employed major State-owned enterprises. Successive Governments over decades have chocked State-run organisations with political appointees, often with little or no qualification, just to gain votes. Not only is this against the basic principles of economics it is also deeply unfair by the many millions of people who genuinely work for their living, rather than depending on political patronage.

Making a bloated public sector efficient is a cumbersome, time-consuming and ultimately expensive process where good money has to be thrown after bad. If politicians have the willpower, then public sector workers can be made to earn their pay or simply told to go home.

When public jobs are handed out by politicians in return for votes the political parties they belong to lose the moral high ground to preach about good governance.

Kiriella will undoubtedly not be held responsible for his actions by a Government that has provided many appointments to their favourites. Mistakes of this nature may seem inconsequential but when they disillusion the masses the consequences will be felt by more than individual politicians.