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by Ariyaratne Hewage

Strategies of development have to keep pace with the changing trends in globalization, modern communication and technology including information technology and concerns of democratization and governance.

Political leaders, policy makers, senior public officers, private sector executives, professionals, members of academia and many other groups discuss these development trends and the roles of different players in the process. Roles of political leaders and that of the private sector and of civil society organizations are yet to be clarified.

A frequently asked question in many fora today needs to be adequately answered, namely, "What is the role of the Public Service in the present context?"

For the purpose of this article the public service is defined to include public institutions at national, provincial and other sub-national levels including the local government service. This also includes some types of semi government institutions particularly those involved in providing services for the benefit of the public. The important phenomenon is that the public service is the main "operational arm" of the government. In a democratic polity, the government runs the administrative, economic and social affairs of the country for the benefit of its people. The government is basically comprised of two main groups. One group includes the elected representatives of the people at national and sub-national levels. They are expected to play an important role on behalf of the people in a "representative democracy". The other comprises of appointed public officers who are expected to "operationalize" the government's policies, plans and programmes. The required powers, authority and resources are made available to public officers to perform this function. In some countries, the public service is referred to as "the civil service" to distinguish it from judiciary or armed services.

There can be various roles that public service is expected to play from time to time. An important feature which requires to be noted is that these roles differ according to the position the respective person holds at a given point of time. A Secretary to a Ministry for example, is required to be answerable for several authorities. He or She is directly responsible to the Minister concerned and at the same time to the Head of the Government and to the Parliament. Therefore, a Secretary plays a complex and multiple role. The Commonwealth Secretariat in a paper published in 1999 had identified three basic roles of a Permanent Secretary (executive head of a Ministry).

These three basic roles are as follows:

1. Policy Advisor to the Minister

The Permanent Secretary is expected to provide objective advice on policy issues, on the government's options in dealing with them and the implications of each option.

2. Head of Ministry

The Permanent Secretary should direct and manage on the Minister's behalf and within the law, a ministry of government and ensure that the work is carried out efficiently and effectively.

3. Member of the Public Service Top Management Team

The Permanent Secretary shares a collective responsibility for the management of the public service as a whole and is expected to ensure that initiatives of the ministry are consistent with overall governmental objectives.

These could be considered the basic roles of a Secretary. However, there are several other roles that senior public officers at policy level are expected to play. Similarly public officers at middle and first line levels would also play diversified roles at different times.

Some key roles that public officers are expected to play are presented in this article. There can be additions to this list and roles may change according to the changing patterns of social, economic and political trends.

Many persons including top political leaders, private sector executives and senior public servants who are mainly involved in country's development efforts are of the opinion that public officers should play a role of a 'facilitator' in the present context. Public officers are expected to identify the problems faced by the entrepreneurs and investors of the private sector and deliver the required services in an expeditious manner. It has been reported that several investors including some foreign companies have abandoned their projects due to undue delays in obtaining the necessary approvals from government. These services include permits for land, supply of infrastructure needs (electricity, telecom etc.), environmental clearances, duty waivers and various registrations. It may be useful to study in detail, whether there had actually been undue delays on the part of public service. However, the lethargic and rigid attitudes of some public servants may have led to shortcomings and delays in some instances. As facilitators, the public servants are not expected to grant approvals blindly but are expected to consider broader national interests. It is necessary to deal with such requests with positive attitudes and extend fullest cooperation to the genuine private investor. Public servants therefore, should think innovatively, analyze all issues and display their rediness to cooperate in the case of genuine proposals for development. Public officers need to be flexible and should look at the issues from the point of view of the developer.

Political leaders are expected to make the policy decisions with regard to matters related to the major areas of administration. However, it should be noted that political leaders are elected for a specific time period and they may not be knowledgeable in the subject area assigned to them. Public officers on the other hand, are expected to have competence and experience in the subject area. They should be able to develop knowledge and skills in their subject areas. It will not be practicable for public officers to believe that political leaders should accept all their advice, on the grounds that they are 'experts'. Political leaders will not accept the advice of public officers blindly. They are answerable to the public and would consider only what is beneficial to the public. The, advice of the public officers should be rational and be based on facts and figures. Public officers should be in a position to analyze the issue and submit a few alternative solutions to the political leaders.

All these alternative solutions should contain the cost and benefit analysis. Then the political leaders will be able to evaluate the alternatives and select the preferred alternative. The senior public officers at the national or provincial ministries should be able to present the alternatives to their ministers with the necessary data. Vishnoo Bhagwan and Gidya Bhushan in their book titled, "Public Administration", recognize the role of public officers as advisors to be very important. Referring to the functions of the civil service with special reference to the Indian civil service, they accept that, one of the primary functions of the civil service is to offer advice to the political executive. 'Ministers rely on the advice of their senior officials who are the reservoirs of information and organized knowledge concerning the subject-matters which they administer. The political executive necessarily depends upon the civil personnel for the information that he needs in formulating his own programme. In the course of administration many problems arise which are usually worked out in the first instance by the civil service and then reported to the political overhead, if at all, for approval or merely for information'. The middle level public officers particularly those at district or divisional levels should also be able present alternatives to the local political leaders and clearly understand the nature of their role as an 'advisor' who is expected to give unbiased, positive and analytical data and information to political leaders. It is therefore, necessary that public officers develop their capacities in analytical approaches and presentation skills to perform this role effectively. Even if political leaders do not accept the advice of public officers, it is the responsibility of the officers to present their candid views and suggestions.

There are some goods and services which are basic needs for living. Health, education, transport and supply of essential food items as such basic goods and services. Although, there had been some recent efforts to involve the private sector in providing such services, it is not possible to reach the masses, particularly the poor through the private sector. provision of these services cannot always be performed as profit-oriented business ventures. It should be considered as a basic service that the government is expected to provide. Achievement of a high degree of Human Development Index (HDI) such as 0.735 (1999) is also mainly due to the free education and health services.

Seventy percent of the country's population lives in rural areas and larger proportion of them fall into the category of 'poor'. Most of the rural people are engaged in subsistence level agriculture and other casual jobs and therefore, do not have a steady income. Members of poor families cannot afford to pay for basic services like education and health care. It is a prime responsibility of public officers to identify the real needs of such people and ensure that they receive good quality services. It is encouraging to note that field level officers engaged in primary health care, maternity and child care services are rendering a yeoman service by reaching all households scattered in the country particularly in rural areas. Teachers who provide the education through the public school system too are performing a commendable service to educate the rural children.

Security is an important requirement for the people to live a free and happy life. This would include security from external and internal threats. Although, the armed services are not considered as part of public service, there are public officers involved in policy and planning of security and defence services. In addition to the civilian officers police officers also are considered as public officers. Security and defence services are predominantly provided by the state in any country. It is not possible to involve the private sector to provide the common security and defence services. Therefore, the public officers have a great responsibility in performing such services.

They should identify the security and defence needs of the country at a given point of time, analyze such needs and the required resources and advise the higher authorities on the policies and strategies to be adopted. They also should coordinate the actions of the armed services and the police and ensure that they are within the policies and programmes of the government. Public offices are also expected to liaise with foreign authorities for possible linkages and assistance in this regard.

Enforcement of law in the country is an important functions of the public service. This helps to maintain law and order and ensures freedom of the people. When one person violates the law, it can affect many others. The responsibility of law enforcement cannot be transferred to any other sector and therefore, public officers should take special care in exercising authority and ensure justice and impartiality. Public officers working in such institutions as police, customs, immigration, coast conservation, forest and wildlife conservation, labour and other areas need to be mindful about the important nature of this responsibility. However, public officers should bear in mind that law enforcement is not to harass people, but ensure the freedom of the people.

Today, the critical issue is not the inadequacy of law, but its weak, lethargic and biased enforcement. This aspect needs to be rectified to achieve development goals. As Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore said that discipline should be established first and then development and democracy would follow. This statement clearly shows that establishing discipline through proper law enforcement is a 'pre-requisite' for sustainable development and the democratic process. The relevant public officers, therefore should master the laws pertaining to their subject areas and ensure that law enforcement is fair and unbiased.

Public officers have a vital role to play in the process of the country's development. They should understand the directions of development trends including the main elements of economic, social and environmental development. Public officers should have the knowledge, capacity and experience in the development process, as they have been involved in the development process. They should therefore, give leadership to development in the country. They should identify the problems and issues, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate development programmes and projects. In this regard, public officers must clearly understand the policies of the government in power and adjust their development related actions accordingly. Public officers should also clearly understand the global economic and political trends, identify the country's needs and use the resources in an optimum manner to achieve the development goals. They have to play a lead role in the process of development with a view to help improve the quality of life of the people.

It is important for public officers to clearly understand the basic principles and strategies of sustainable development. They are responsible for formulating the national policies, coordinating various sectors including agriculture, industry, transport etc. and ensuring the proper implementation of such policies in a cohesive and consistent manner. They should provide leadership in national development, help the private sector and advise political leaders to make suitable decisions.

As described in early sections, the multiple roles that public officers are expected to play require 'multiple' qualities and skills to make them effective. They need to acquire relevant knowledge and skills and improve their capacities in a plethora of subject areas. They should be conversant with policy analysis, management principles and practice, monitoring and evaluation, planning, communication, law and other related general subject areas. In addition, they should acquire basic knowledge in various specific subjects assigned to them such as agriculture, environment, industrial development, transport, education, infrastructure development etc. It is therefore, necessary that organized training opportunities be extensively provided for public officers. These training programmes should be specific to different seniority levels and the responsibilities entrusted the officers. Some public officers believe that they do not need any organized training because they have the required knowledge and skills to perform the job assigned to them. Many senior level public officers do not possess the skills required for policy level jobs which is a specialized subject area requiring special skills. Same principle can be applied to other subject areas as well.

The training required by different grades of public officers should be planned carefully and be offered on a regular and mandatory basis. The officers should be asked to follow the appropriate training programme, before they are promoted to the next grade. In South Korea the public officers who belong to a unified service are required complete the designated training programme relevant to their grade before promotion.

In England, the training of public officers was given priority both to provide them with relevant skills and to act to as a vehicle for transmitting the new managerialist culture. Different types of training programmes have been designed for three key levels of the civil service "Top management programme, involving managers from both the public and private sectors, was introduced as a prerequisite for all grade three civil servants involved in strategic management. A Senior Management Development Programme was launched for principal officers and above and a Management Development Programme for junior staff was designed to identify managerial talent and introduce a management succession programme.'

The main government training institutions such as SLIDA and NIBM need to be strengthened to undertake this important responsibility. In addition, selected Universities and other relevant institutions may be invited to plan and offer short term and longterm study programmes for identified groups of public officers. Training should be properly linked to the career development of public officers and completion of the required training should be made mandatory.

This is the question attached to the title of this article. Some people talk about the changing role of the public service. But if trends have been carefully analyzed, one cannot see any significant change in the role of the public service over the last few decades. Some policy makers believe that the role of the public service will automatically change according to the global and socio-economic changes. It has been observed that some senior policy makers request the public officers to change their attitudes and adjust their roles according to the current development trends. However, the role of the public officer will not change automatically as expected. It is necessary to introduce and induce the changes through legal and administrative means. The public service of Malaysia has been modernized and reformed through introducing necessary legal framework, directives of the chief executive (Prime Minister) and through various administrative guidelines, instructions and circulars issued by the Chief Secretary to the government and other relevant executives. Therefore, they believe that they would achieve the establishment of professional, high quality and meritorious public service in Malaysia.

As was mentioned earlier, the public service is the main planning and implementing arm of the government. It is difficult to achieve the desired development without a 'strong' and quality public service. This is important for countries like Sri Lanka, since there is no other mechanism available for this purposes. Malaysia, Singapore and India are good examples where a strong public service has been able to contribute positively towards the economic development, political stability and sustainability of the administration.

It is essential to introduce necessary reforms in the public service with a view to achieving the development goals and objectives of the government. Since the public service is the key system available to transform government policies and programmes into action, the public service reforms should be considered as a priority. When market oriented economic reforms were introduced in England in 1980s, the government realized the need to reform its civil service "Businessmen were coopted or recruited to introduce managerialist ideas and legitimise value for money and its concomitant emphasis on the 3 'E' s, economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The political drive during 1990s turned to a fourth 'E', excellence aimed at improving the quality and choice of public services. Subsequently the fifth 'E', entrepreneurship was introduced and the public sector was expected to emulate the market and the private sector to achieve the objectives.

In many countries, policy makers have realized the importance of establishing a quality public service to effectively carry out the programmes of the government.

It is therefore, unnecessary to stress the importance of introducing administrative reforms with a view to rapidly changing the culture, capacity and approach of the public service to achieve the development goals of the government.

The present public service should be transformed into a more professional, high quality and competitive body to enable it to face the enormous challenges of the 21st Century.

(The writer is a senior public officer and is at present the Secretary, Ministry of Urban Public Utilities. He has obtained MPA degree from the West Virginia University, USA).

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