Government’s U-turn on meritocracy for plum public sector posts

The recent appointment made by the Government to the post of DG of the Department of Excise called into question the NPP administration’s commitment to establish a culture of meritocracy and independence within the public service, which was one of its main electoral pledges before coming into power. The Cabinet’s decision to appoint M.B.N.A. Premaratne – a retired Navy Commodore – as DG of the Excise Department has caused bewilderment and surprise even among the sympathisers of the ruling party. 

Excise Department is one of the three premier revenue-collecting State agencies in the country and throughout its history, the post of DG has been held either by an in-service senior employee or prominent Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) officer. 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 – a practice which was severely ostracised by the ruling party politicians during their days in the opposition. Professor Subasinghe was recently 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.

Sections within the Excise Department had opined the appointment of a naval officer to head the State institution as a clear violation of the tradition in history, where either an experienced in-service officer who had risen to the rank of Commissioner/Additional Commissioner General or senior SLAS officer would be picked to head the department which plays an important role in raising money to the coffers of the Treasury. Leading a high-profile public service institution like Excise Department is entirely different from the service in Navy. Numerous retried individuals from the tri-forces were chosen to head a number of ministries and departments during the presidency of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, but many of them proved to be ineffective. 

At a time when the Government is hard pressed to increase the Government revenue, it would have been ideal to select a senior official who is well-versed on the intricacies of excise revenue and has a proven track record to lead one of the most important departments coming within the purview of the Treasury. Empirical evidence vindicate that more often than not military personnel find it difficult to familiarise with civil service institutions after having served armed forces for decades.

Meanwhile, the administration’s attempt to assign Pushpitha Kondilage to the highly prestigious position of Auditor General (AG) made a mockery of the altruistic stances they stood for in terms of bringing about a system change driven by a public service which is devoid of unwarranted political intervention. Kondilage, a member of the CPC’s Board of Directors, was reportedly a contemporary of President Disanayake at the University of Kelaniya. Trade unions attached to the Audit Service have vehemently criticised the President’s decision to recommend a person who has no or little audit experience to lead the National Audit Office which is mandated to provide an independent review of the performance and accountability of the public sector institutions and report findings to the legislature.

 Trade Unions Collective of the audit services had stated that G.H.D. Dharmapala, who holds the Acting AG post, is the most suitable person to be the next Auditor General as he has over 30 years of experience. Attempting to appoint a politically connected individual to lead the prime institution which is responsible for appraising the accountability of State institutions goes against the core essence of the NPP’s declared policy platform of good governance and creating vibrant institutional mechanisms to fight against the entrenched corruption of the Sri Lankan State.

The media as well as the civil society need to play an active role to ensure that the public service is not eroded by ostensible attempts of political interference. Curbing the independence and professionalism of the public service would undermine the economic recovery besides creating disastrous consequences to the Sri Lankan society.