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| Monday, 7 July 2003 |
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Much needs to be done in Lankan public institutions - Ajith N. Cabraal by Shirajiv Sirimane Former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Provincial Councillor, Ajith N. Cabraal, said that in two successive World Bank reports management and administrative structures of Sri Lanka's public institutions have been highly criticised and much needs to be done in this area. Cabraal who delivered the oration to mark the 50th Assembly Meeting of the South Asian Federation of Accountants at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka last Thursday said that in 2003, the Country Financial Accountability Assessment report prepared by the World Bank stated that 180 state owned enterprises that combine commercial and regulatory activities, are characterised by excessive staff, weak management, inefficiencies, heavy losses and dependency on budget transfers.
"At the Sri Lanka Development Forum in the year 2000, the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy confirmed our own beliefs that public institutions are politicised; politicians are not accountable; and that the nation suffers from a weakened capacity of the state to exercise its power judiciously and effectively for the purpose of growth with equity and social harmony," he said. "The references to the poor governance systems, in the back-to-back World Bank reports confirms the well-known fact that all is not well in our management and administrative structures and that much needs to be done. We often read of instances where one person has gained an unfair advantage over another in business, education, sports, tenders or almost anything. We hear of instances where the rules and regulations have been bent, changed or stretched, and where specifications have been designed to accommodate or give an undue advantage to certain selected persons. We learn of instances where no criteria at all is laid down or the criteria laid down is so vague that manipulation by a few interested parties is possible to engineer a desired result of their choice. We learn with disgust about corrupt tenders, fraudulent privatisation, wrongful promotions, forced personal relationships, undue delays, political victimisation and so on. We hear about waste, frauds, tamashas, commissions, and people and politician "buy-overs". We have to deal with delays, scheming politicians, arrogant bureaucrats and unbearable living costs, and then we in response can only take a deep breath and mutter soft curses just to keep our heads cool," he said. Results oriented He said that governments should be made "result-oriented" by funding "outcomes" not "inputs". "People want results. When institutions are funded according to "inputs", there is no incentive to enhance performance. What is needed here is to change the system of rewards and incentives. If they are funded according to the outcomes they deliver, they have to become conscious and concerned about their performance. When governments fund "outcomes", a direct linkage between outcomes and the sums paid by society as taxes and other levies, is established." He said that Governor Mario Cuomo of New York once said that it is not the government's obligation to provide services, but to see that they are provided. "For example, we want our garbage disposed of and we wouldn't care whether the government is doing it, or X or Y is doing it. Franchising, out-sourcing, public-private partnerships, are some of the instruments through which these services could be carried out if this method is applied. In a nutshell, governments must "govern" and leave the "doing" to others." "I in particular, and all of us in general, are accused of offering unsolicited solutions to our respective country and governments, let us see what we, as premier institutions in the South Asian Region could do to improve governance in our countries without waiting for that elusive someone else to do something in this regard. In other words, what can we do to shift gear? I think we should call for reforms in governance procedures in our respective countries. The governments have a vested interest to have poor governance systems because with poor governance, corruption, waste and other inefficiencies can thrive and it makes it easier for governments to indulge in such practices," he said. Poor quality workforce "We should impress upon our governments that it is through education and training that good governance is achieved. We are eternally lamenting about the poor quality of our workforces. But other than a few high ranking officials who get themselves trained, (most often abroad), how many at the grassroots level are trained methodically? At the same time, we say that people at grassroots level are incompetent and hence should not be entrusted with funds or responsibility, and use that argument to by-pass devolved systems of governance and enforce centralised management systems." "I believe we should develop links and partnerships with "watch-dog" groups and try to keep the various government institutions and authorities in check. In this endeavour, connections with some international organisations such as Transparency International, could certainly be useful and we could learn a lot from their experiences, expertise and systems. We also need to free ourselves from the "someone else" syndrome and at least embark on a few pilot projects initiated by our own Institutes to introduce good governance practices in a few of the key institutions in our countries. For example, the ICASL could choose one large public sector institution, one Government Department, one Municipal Council, one Urban Council and one Pradeshiya Sabha and work in partnership with such organisations to improve their governance and accountability systems," he said. The ICASL has in the past too, shown great concern towards national needs and responded effectively. The formation of the Association of Accounting Technicians, the initiative to assist in the Capital Market Development effort, the formation of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board, the promulgation of the Codes of Best Practice on Corporate Governance are a few of the initiatives that could be identified as ICASL's tangible national responses which well exceeded the traditional but rather narrow "member-driven" role that professional organisations usually fulfil. "I urge that, we as individual professionals demand better services from the government and other institutions so that they in turn, would be compelled to deliver better services. For too long, we have been placidly taking a "this-is-our-karma-so-what-to-do!" attitude when faced with shoddy services from government authorities and institutions. I am sure that if we turn round and fight back, the authorities would surely take notice." "In all our countries, we have to achieve sustainable growth rates of 9-10 % per annum so as to free ourselves from the vicious poverty trap. For such outcomes to be successfully achieved, we must do something soon. Many remedies have been suggested." Fresh approach "It is my fervent plea that we as a profession, shift gear and take this new and fresh approach to deal with the problem of governance, or the lack of it, fairly and squarely. It is time to do something dramatic, far-reaching, tangible, constructive and practical. Perhaps something heroic," he said. He said that the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) had its inception in 1984, even before the formation of SAARC. |
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