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Accountable public institutions

A brutal acid attack on an officer of the Auditor General's Department, who had been probing financial irregularities at a ministry of the Central Provincial Council, revealed the extreme lengths to which the corrupt would push themselves to conceal their dark doings from State scrutiny. It should be realised that, given the rampant nature of corruption and financial mismanagement in some public sector institutions, this instance of corruption could be only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

While condemning the attack on the Audit officer for its sheer inhumanity, we wish to draw the attention of the Government to the grave risks personnel of this category expose themselves to in the course of their duties. As our front page lead story yesterday disclosed, the Government is taking the laudable step of exacting a greater degree of accountability and financial transparency from all categories of public sector institutions, but it needs to be alert to the dangers faced by its investigating officers. The State should consider it obligatory to provide them with the required protection against physical and mental harm. This will ensure the success of the Government's timely undertaking.

There is, however, no ducking the fact that the entirety of the public sector should be held more rigorously accountable to the State and the people for their financial performance. Over the years, some of these organisations have tended to be a law unto themselves and the time is ripe to call on them to put their houses in order. The procedures of accountability need to be strictly enforced on these bodies and we have it on the authority of Minister Karu Jayasuriya that they would be called on to finalise accounts in time and submit to parliament their books for scrutiny by the representatives of the people.

Besides the need to ensure the financial viability of these institutions and to open them to State and public scrutiny, so as to prevent them from degenerating into resource-gobbling White Elephants, the time seems opportune to re-invigorate public enterprises. With some of pillars of welfarism remaining intact in this country, despite the dynamic role being performed by the private sector, quite a few of these public sector enterprises could be considered the main conduits of supply of goods and services badly needed by the people. Hence the need for a rejuvenated public sector.

The reduction in the prices of fuel and electricity in particular should, theoretically, bring about a reduction in the prices of a wide range of consumables. These price reductions should be enforced by the State or in the alternative, the products concerned should be channelled to the people through an efficiently functioning public sector. Only smoothly-operating and profit-oriented public enterprises could rise to this challenge.

All this means that public sector enterprises could no longer wallow in the mire of inefficiency and corruption. Nor could they be permitted to remain inert in the name of welfarism at the taxpayer's expense. They must be galvanised into playing the dynamic role expected of them and we hope that bodies such as the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprise would prove effective in this task.

It is important that these enterprises are endowed with competent managerial personnel for the tasks ahead. The Government needs to ensure that the right man or woman would be handling the right job in these organisations. Time was when these bodies were stuffed with political henchmen. This shouldn't be the case if they are to be rejuvenated. It is such practices that drove many public enterprises to the wall, compelling many a government to "sell the family silver".

The private sector may be the engine of growth right now, but the public sector remains for very many a vital source of succour. It will be so in the days ahead too and hand-in-hand with the private sector hopefully take Lanka out of the economic doldrums.

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