Mantra to deliver: “Less talk, less friends and more action”

Premadasa was instrumental in creating a multi-billion dollar garment industry

By Insider

A well-known cricketer after listening to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at one of the John Keells Hotels in the city was overheard telling a young Minister that the Prime Minister can talk very well but does not seem to follow up and deliver. 

This is now a common utterance among many of the people in the city. Recently, participants at the recently-concluded Sri Lanka Economic Summit in a survey had been critical of the progress made so far and have mixed views about Budget 2016. The questions were anchored to the overall theme of the Summit of ‘Focus.Act.Deliver.’

The poll asked three questions inked to the Summit’s theme of ‘Focus.Act.Deliver.’ The first on, ‘How focused is the Government on creating policies that support private sector growth?’ showed a lot of pessimism with 47% of respondents giving a score of 3 out of 5 (with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest). 36% scored a 1 or 2, and only 15% scoring a 4 or 5. This reflects the wider feelings of confusion and uncertainty among the private sector on the Government’s economic policy plans. 

On the question of ‘How successful has the Government been in actioning such policy changesduring the last one year?’ a majority of 49% scored a low 2 out of 5, indicating strong disappointment in the progress of reform in the first year of the government’s term. Only a low 7% gave a score of 4 or 5, and 26% gave a score of 1, the lowest. Interestingly, however, top executives were a bit more optimistic about the future, but uncertainty prevailed. 

On the question of ‘How confident are you that the Government can deliver its economic promises in the next four years?’ 41% of respondents scored either a 4 or 5, while 35% scored a moderate 3 out of 5. A quarter or respondents were still pessimistic, scoring a 1 or 2. There lies a window of opportunity for the government.

From talk to results

The Prime Minister himself last week in another high-profile summit said “the Government has to deliver or we will have to face grave consequences at the next election”. He knows very well if heloses in four years it will be a repeat, three times more perhaps, of what the Rajapaksas are facing now. 

The President is certainly not in a mood to see that happening to him or to his family. Therefore, he would do whatever it takes with or without the Prime Minister according to insiders to ensure the Rajapaksas are held accountable for their misdeeds and for plundering of public wealth. 

The reason why this Government is finding it hard to deliver according to people outside the Government is due to five reasons:

1.    The different ideology of the two parties in the Government and the UNP back office not working in a spirit of give and take.

2.    The Prime Minister’s friends(Ratwatte and Samarawickrama) attempting to control ministries by putting incompetent public servants as secretaries to key ministries, totally retarding the performance of the ministry.

3.    Putting friends of the Prime Minister and their friends’ friends who have no stake in the 8 January change to key positions in the Government, people who have no clue of the operations and people who are not answerable to the Minister; instead they take cover behind the Prime Minister for their incompetence.

4. Approval process for key projects getting centred around two three people, leading to enormous delays; one person who acts as Sri Lanka’s Mr.Approval was found guilty for mismanagement by a presidential commission in the ’90s. Many Chinese investors are unhappy with a certain minister for interfering with their projects handled by other ministers.

5.    Ratwatte, Samarawickrama and Rathnayake acting as the John Rambo of the Government without delegation in key areas like trade negotiations, etc. to competent people like Eran Wickramaratne, Sajith Premadasa, Kabir Hashim, Harsha de Silva or Mahesh Amalean.

All in all, if the President and the Prime Minister wantto achieve something substantial to be remembered, other than saying they ran a National Unity Government at double the cost of a normal government, they need to do something like what President Premadasa created, the garment factory programme that created a multibillion dollar industry and a brand name for Sri Lanka, or for that matter Mahinda Rajapaksa finishing the 30-year war that paved the way for tourism and the markets to boom. 

The current two leaders need to shed their friends and bring in a professional class into the administration and build the SME base in the country without depending on big business.

Nothing will be achieved for sure, if those ministers, businessman and bureaucrats who have failed miserably in the past are not dumped for good, for the greater good of the country. If not, the remaining four years will fly past them with nothing substantial to show the public.