Favouritism over meritocracy

Selecting the best and brightest individuals for the prominent positions in the public sector was one of the key pledges made by the Left-leaning National People’s Power (NPP) before taking over the Government. The NPP vowed to unleash a systemic change which is characterised by a culture of meritocracy by which people who possess talent, capacity, and experience are given the opportunity to take over the responsibilities of the influential posts in the public sector disregarding political as well as personal affiliations.

However, in clear contravention of the mandate received, the administration is doing exactly the opposite to what they promised to the public. Surprisingly, the level of politicisation the NPP Government is attempting in terms of filling the vacant leadership positions in critical state departments exceeds the extent to which it was practiced by the past Government, including the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, which was well known for appointing people who were connected to the leadership of the Government both personally and politically by disregarding credentials in addition to ignoring the requirement to preserve the independence of the institutions that are deemed integral to law and order apart from good governance.

The inordinate delay associated with filling the vacancy of the post of Auditor General is representative of the administration’s willingness to appoint a person who has links with the ruling political party to head the supreme audit institution, which is responsible for independently auditing public sector entities (Government departments, corporations, local authorities) to ensure financial propriety, efficiency, and effectiveness and then reporting findings to the Parliament to aid accountability and good governance. Since last April, the post of Auditor General has remained substantively vacant as the Government is unwilling to appoint Dharmapala Gammanpila, who is the Senior Deputy Auditor General of the National Audit Office (NAO). Following the retirement of W.P.C. Wicramaratne, Gammanpila served as Acting Auditor General until 7 December of last year. The latter commands all the credentials and experience to head the NAO as he is a qualified Chartered Accountant in addition to having served the audit office for more than 30 years. Hence, why the Government is trying to appoint a person outside the audit service is simply beyond logic.

O.R. Rajasinghe – the Internal Audit Director of the Sri Lanka Army – was the President’s latest recommendation to the coveted designation. The audit office must audit all institutions within the public sector, including the armed forces. In such a backdrop, would not concerns of conflicts of interest arise if the audit office is headed by a person who had earlier been attached to the army. Furthermore, various allegations have been levelled against Rajasinghe, raising question marks over his fit and properness to one of the most responsible and sensitive positions within the public administration structure of the country. Few months ago, the President nominated H.T.P. Chandana, an audit officer at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, to the highly sensitive position. The nominee was said to be a contemporary of Dissanayake at the University of Kelaniya.

Last July, M.B.N.A. Premaratne – a retired Navy Commodore – was appointed as DG of the Excise Department going against the accepted norm of appointing an experienced in-service official or senior SLAS official. As Premaratne’s wife Professor Wasantha Subasinghe was on the NPP National List at the last Parliamentary election held in November 2024, the decision attracted allegations of rewarding political loyalty and nepotism. Professor Subasinghe too was appointed as Vice Chancellor of the Gampaha Wickramarachchi University of Indigenous Medicine – another move which was portrayed as an instance of displaying favouritism based on political affiliation.

The founder of modern Singapore Lee Kuan Yew was a strong advocate of meritocracy and a firm believer of identifying and recruiting the best and brightest people for the civil service. The city state’s reliance on meritocracy was one of the prime reasons for its rapid and remarkable rise despite being constrained by lack of natural resources. Unfortunately, the leaders of the Government, who promised to practice Singaporean-styled meritocracy, are turning back on their promises.