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| Thursday, 3 July 2003 |
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Sri Lanka, a new Tiger in the making? by Dinesh Weerakkody The prescriptions for development have been plenty, especially in the last 20 years. Yet, like most other South Asian countries we are sill developing, with no firm assurance that our economic fortune will change and we will become an NIC in the next decade. The UNF Government under Ranil Wickremesinghe is fully committed to overcoming the legacy of poor economic management and building a country that would provide the Social and economic opportunities to all citizens. His initiative "Regaining Sri Lanka" provides the framework for economic revival. To support his initiative to rebuild the entire country through regaining Sri Lanka he received a bounty of pledges from bilateral and multilateral donors, led by Japan. The pledges were one and a half Billion US dollars per year for the next three years. But do we have an effective public service to tell us how to utilize all these funds, to develop our country?
Going from past records our utilization of donor funds has been only around 16%. Therefore, a sense of urgency and determination is required from our politicians and public officials more than ever to utilize the vast amounts of aid that the Government has been able to mobilize. If counterpart funding is the issue then we may have to persuade the donors to allocate some amount for counterpart funds as a long term loan. The people in the North need to get on with their lives and any delay in facilitating that will only put more pressure on the peace process and also investors will not come into this country unless we have good infrastructure. Therefore the public service needs to simplify and streamline some of the procedures while ensuring transparency if we are to get on the road to rapid development as well as reconstruct the North and East. On the other hand, if the Government fails to mobilize the energies and also raise the competence levels of the public service they cannot provide the foundation for economic transformation. Growth The seemingly miraculous growth of Singapore in the '80s was directly attributed to the high quality of its institutions and the competence of its civil service. These civil servants were highly skilled, dynamic people, who were forward looking, took a broad view of the development process and found the best possible way to achieve the wishes of the people. As a result Singapore developed a civil service that was proud of its record as an independent service and public servants capable of working with the private sector rather than against it. Whereas in Sri Lanka over the years the public service lost its professional edge and became the servant of the politicians rather than of the people and a public service that prefers to tell why things cannot be done rather than offer solutions to achieve the wishers of the people. Therefore a highly motivated public service will be a key element to our future success. What Sri Lanka needs is, like in Singapore, a powerful, competent and dynamic - technocratic bureaucracy, shielded from political pressure to devise and implement well-honed interventions. While we need authoritarian leaders, they also must be willing to grant a voice and genuine authority to a competent technocratic elite and key elements in the private sector. Our leaders must realize that economic development is impossible without the cooperation of the private sector. Because, if business prospers, then more money comes into the government coffers. That means better salaries for the public servants. Therefore, the Government needs to create a culture where everyone has an interest in seeing progress and a public service that work with the private sector rather than against it. Collaborating On the other hand, politicians on both sides who take responsibility for the future destiny of our nation must also build confidence without sending the wrong signals and resting hopes on shaky politics. We need politicians who can articulate a clear vision, display an exemplary commitment to the law and deliver sound policies. The UNF Government to establish their legitimacy and win the support of society at large has promoted the principle of shared growth, promising in effect that as the economy expands, all groups will benefit. But sharing growth raises serious coordination problems. To tackle these complex coordination problems, the UNP administration needs institutions and mechanisms to reassure competing groups that each would benefit from growth. Therefore, the first step that the UNP should do is to recruit a competent, dynamic, honest and relatively young technocratic cadre and insulate them from political interference to manage and implement projects. If not, there is no way that the UNF Government can convince and win the cooperation of the business elite to share the benefits of growth with the middle class and the poor classes. In fact, in many NICs, competent technocrats have helped their leaders to devise a credible economic strategy and thereby win the economic war. Therefore, in order to foster an effective bureaucracy, the UNF Government, in addition to tapping the traditionally accorded public servants in the current administrative service, would also have to employ numerous other mechanisms to increase the appeal of a public service career, thereby heightening competition and improving the pool of applicants. The Government therefore needs to have a system to attract young talent, develop and ensure that only the best get accelerated promotions. The overall principle, in the long term, should be to pay salaries comparable to the private sector, recruitment and promotion should be merit based and those who make it to the top on merit should be amply rewarded. In Government, as in nearly everything else, you get what you pay for. There is ample research to show that more favourable the total compensation package compared to the private sector the better the quality of the public service. Singapore Not surprisingly, Singapore, which is widely perceived to have the region's most competent and upright bureaucracy, pays its bureaucrats best. In economies where public sector wages are good, if not equal to the private sector, prestige will persuade some talented individuals to forego higher earnings in the private sector. However, prestige can only be enhanced by having a highly competitive, merit based recruitment and promotion process. The retirement plan, a benefit normally not available in the private sector except in large corporations could also be an incentive to join the public sector, provided a proper working environment is created. Therefore, the trick for the UNF Government is to hit on a combination that will attract competent individuals to the public service. On the other hand, if we do not have the necessary talent in Sri Lanka, we may have to get the assistance of foreign governments to either second people or provide the right exposure to our people or perhaps even engage the services of top consultants to develop the people and the systems. An effective public service will enable the Government in the short term to implement the foreign funded projects and in the medium and long term to establish legal and regulatory structures that are generally hospitable to private investment. More than ever we need a public service that can help the private sector to thrive and also facilitate foreign investment. In the final Analysis, by encouraging innovation, decentralization of authority and responsibility at the lowest possible level the Government can create a new class of public servants who may hold the key to the future. However, to crate that new class of public servants, the present Government must focus on attracting competent and relatively young people with fresh ideas and then give them the tools and freedom to do the job. If not there is no way that Sri Lanka can become another Asian Tiger by 2020. |
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