|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 26 December 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
The art of procrastination Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha In the office of the Prime Minister is a man called Harsha Wijewardana who has to acknowledge letters. Until recently he scrupulously passed on queries to the relevant authority, informing writers accordingly. Recently however I have not heard from him, understandably since I remind him about these letters, to which there has been nothing more than these charming acknowledgments. The first time this happened I thought he was serious, given his missive to the Secretary of the Ministry of Tertiary Education: 'I would be glad if you could take necessary action regarding the matter referred to and send a reply to the writer with a copy to me in order that it (sic) may apprise the Hon. Prime Minister accordingly.' Now I would have thought the Prime Minister, whiz kid as he was at administration in his youth, would have ensured follow up. So I waited patiently before writing again. This time Harsha was peremptory - 'No response has been received from you and the writer has invited our attention. Under the circumstances, I request you to inform me of the action you have taken regarding same without delay, to apprise the Hon. Prime Minister of the position.' The Secretary however ignored all this as though Ranil were Norwegian and he the LTTE High Command. Unlike Ranil in that sort of situation, I did not forget the problem and wrote again. But Harsha is now silent. Meanwhile his counterpart at Tertiary Education, Kabir Hashim's delightful sister-in-law Farah Hussain, is more practical. She acknowledes letters in bulk, writing that my letters 'have been referred to the relevant authorities for their observations and reports. When these observations and reports are received by him they will be studied and a further reply will be sent to you.' I have still not received that reply. She acknowledged more letters subsequently, and was charming when I dropped in to find her playing with her son at her desk, but policy and public interest are beyond her. They seem to be beyond her brother-in-law too. Plausibly though he talks, he seems to have no time to look properly at his papers. Thus, having assured me when we first discussed corruption at Sabaragamuwa University that he was awaiting a Commission report, he confessed months later that he had only looked at parts of it. Obviously these disagreed with him, for the UGC later appointed yet another panel to look into irregularities at the University over periods covered by three previous commissions. Now all this would not have worried me were it not that simultaneously, on sillier issues, Ranil and young Hashim apply the full weight of their executive authority. I received recently a letter asking why Sabaragamuwa University had no French Lecturers. The Prime Minister was worried about this. Trincomalee can fall, the Education Ministry can fail to provide books, but our five French students are a priority for Ranil. To substantiate his concern we got a handwritten letter from which name and address had been blanked out. Perhaps, judging people by themselves, they thought to protect some child from persecution, in case we felt revengeful. Since the lack of lecturers at Sabaragamuwa had been the substance of some of my correspondence, I found it bizarre that Ranil should now express anguish about what I had warned him of. Upto 2001 the UGC had given us a cadre of 6. In 2002 it granted this was a mistake, and promised to give 29. But we were to wait for a letter, which only arrived in 2003. Then, appointments required Treasury approval, which took another age. The UGC knows this, as would the Minister and Prime Minister if they read their briefs. But they don't. They simply send out complaints to someone else to deal with. This goes on until the complaint reaches someone who believes letters deserve serious answers rather than procrastination and prevarication. So I now end up explaining to Ranil the inefficiency of his officials which had comprised one of my own complaints previously. Soon doubtless I will be asked why the Tigers have taken Trincomalee. But that something is wrong with this whole style of management is not something Ranil or Hashim can understand. And I don't suppose Harsha or Farah will tell them how meaningless such window-dressing is. After all, their salaries will be paid, though nothing is achieved. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
