Is the NPP Government constrained by talent/experience deficit?

Over the last few weeks, the media has been abuzz with speculation over the NPP Government’s reported attempts to bring talented/experienced politicians from Opposition parties to strengthen the political administration in view of the apparent lack of experience in the Government ranks. Such rumours have received credence in view of the appointment of former SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne to head the newly appointed Cricket Transformation Committee. 

The ruling party has a convincing two-third majority in the legislature, and it was only during the last parliamentary election a political party was able to capture more than two-third of the parliamentary seats since the Proportional Representation election system was introduced. Hence, why should such a powerful administration lack confidence in its own ability and be tempted to look for talent outside? During the previous national election cycle, the NPP leaders fervently advocated that they would put an end to crossover politics by refraining from gifting cabinet portfolios to Opposition MPs. Moreover, in the event Opposition MPs accept cabinet portfolios, they are likely to lose their parliamentary seats. In 2024, the Supreme Court unseated Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara on the basis of them accepting Ministerial Posts from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa two years earlier. Hence, even if the Government succeeds in enticing Opposition legislators to their ranks by offering ministries, such efforts would be counterproductive due to legal/constitutional restraints.

Be that as it may, for a political alliance who boasted their self-perceived exceptionalism by claiming all their 159 MPs are like Lakshman Kadirgamar, why there is an urge to poach talent from others? It should be acknowledged that the NPP’s ideological parent – the JVP – was formed in 1965 and even after coming to the democratic framework after the 1989 insurgency, the left-leaning political force rarely went over 10% in any of the national elections. It required a catastrophic economic crisis and rebranding of the Marxist political outfit as the NPP for voters to take them seriously, after becoming dejected of the mainstream political establishment who ruled the country since gaining independence.

Having recognised the opportunity presented by the 2022 economic crisis to capture power, the NPP mobilised a well-organised public movement to garner support from constituents, supported by their extensive, voluntary social media activists and the large network of expatriate well-wishers. However, governing a country as divergent and complex like ours is completely different from undertaking a clever political campaign. Effective state/nation governance requires experience, maturity, empathy and more importantly in the modern era the capacity to interact with forces of internationalisation. Most of the top political leaders of the ruling administration have been involved in full-time politics from their university student days with very limited exposure to public policy, commerce/business engagement or professional/vocational involvement.

Sympathisers of the Government may point to the presence of many university academics among the Cabinet as well as in the ruling party group to highlight the posture of the administration. Yet, in reality, transitioning from academia to public administration in a developing country like ours is no mean task. Engaging with constituents, pressure groups, and public officials is not as straightforward as authoring scholarly articles for academic journals or conducting lessons for undergraduate/post-graduate students. Moreover, Sri Lanka’s public university system itself has undergone significant decline over the years, raising question marks about their outputs.

Regarding the composition of the cabinet, an aspect which has been widely overlooked is that the collective decision-making body neither includes individuals under the age of 30 or above 65 – a stark contrast to previous cabinets that had a blend of youth and experience. On the contrary, the current cabinet is represented by more or less a compact age group with no visionaries in the calibre of Lalith Athulathmudali or C.P. De Silva. Perhaps, this apparent lacuna would have led a few in the NPP ranks to explore options from the SJB.

A commanding electoral mandate can provide legitimacy, but it cannot substitute for experience and brightness.