Who is the real ‘Booruwa’?

The former chairman of the Delimitation Review Committee, Asoka Peiris, has donned gloves on behalf of public servants calling on them to stand up to the unfair treatment, and sometimes downright bullying, dished out by politicians. Delivering a searing speech over the weekend, he recalled one minister who was famed for calling his officials the Sinhala word for donkey and many others who expected complete obedience “like kittens”. 

The call to arms comes at an opportune time as the Right to Information Act comes into effect from 3 February and public servants need to seize this rare chance to be more independent and serve the people.    

In Sri Lanka’s deeply politicised public system, top posts are often decided by politicians. Ministry secretaries for example are appointed by the Minister and during every Cabinet reshuffle a fresh set of appointments are made, undermining the independence of public servants. All important Cabinet papers, which should be sent to the Cabinet with the approval of both the subject minister and the secretary, especially since it is the latter that actually runs the nitty-gritty functions, often ignore the public official for political expediency. When public officials reject blatantly unfair decisions they, and not the politicians concerned, are most frequently victimised. 

In fact Cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne recently admitted that as many as 7,000 public servants had been summoned before the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to record statements over shady deals conducted by politicians from the previous Government. 

While no one would argue that the FCID has the right to gather evidence, an unfortunate result is that public servants become even more cagey and insecure about their role. True public employees should be made accountable but they must also be empowered to act when they see injustice. But under the current system public officials are often caught between a rock and a hard place because not only can they not protest top level political decisions they can also then be held responsible under the law for acts that they had no influence over.  

The Financial Regulations and Administrative Regulations assume that ministry secretaries have the power to make independent decisions when they simply do not because their jobs are in the hands of politicians. This leads to negligence and in some instances blatant collaboration with corrupt practices because public servants do not have the freedom to speak out.

Why is it that the Government, having come to power promising good governance, is so reluctant to introduce whistleblower protection and give a fair hearing to public officials? Why is it not possible to empower public officials? Why should they not act as policy watchdogs? Why should their careers be under the power of politicians? As public servants they exist to work in the public’s interest, not protect political agendas.

Governments have a responsibility to facilitate whistleblowing and in so doing protect public interest whistleblowers. Laws which recognise the right of those who act in the public interest not to suffer harm or threats of harm and which build on the democratic principles of free speech and freedom of information are critical. Unless public officials are given these powers they will continue to be pawns. But perhaps the time has come for the officials to come into their own.