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| Thursday, 22 July 2004 |
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Please forward your letters to [email protected] in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments. Democratic freedom, unaccountability and irresponsibility Recently, we read the news (DN June 22) of an unfortunate incident where, a person has fallen into a pit, dug and left unmarked and unprotected in the 'Goods Shed' bus stand in Kandy. And this person, a father, is now in hospital with serious injuries. And it seems that there is no one to take responsibility for the cause of this accident. Now, isn't it time, we seriously did something about these things? Or shall we wait till incidents of this nature befall on many more, which might even include our own loved ones? And the glaring fact is that he is one among many, the umpteenth victim of an administrative system riddled with bureaucracy with many of its employees without the slightest notion of or regard for their accountability and responsibility for what they are doing? It is another case where, we have stretched our democratic freedom beyond its elastic limits. In a real democratic environment and, despite its flexibility to absorb many and different lines of thought and ability to tolerate many actions of people, no one can get away with anything big or small, if deemed harmful to the society and unaccountability and irresponsibility are not small follies, anyway. And, if we do not reply to bureaucratic inaction with loud and persistent calls for action from all those concerned, everytime something like this and many more of similar nature occur, these accidents that could have been avoided in the first place with a little amount of forethought and caring for the fellow citizen, will continue to happen. It is also funny that, all this is happening in a country, which, according to many of our politicians, is just a few years away from becoming fully developed. Perhaps, they have forgotten that the developed nations are called developed, not only because they have wealthy treasuries, and that their socio-economic statistics looks good, but also they have a system where everyone is accountable and responsible for what he or she is doing and is punishable by law for failing to become so. And, that the public safety is at the top of their list of social welfare commitments. Had the above incident happened in a developed country, the person found responsible and guilty of negligence would have been punished heavily or the responsible authority, ordered to pay the victim a big amount. And that is all without the necessity for the victim to keep going to courts in a wheelchair, begging for compensation, for again an umpteenth number of times. Finally, a sincere appeal to those who care and can; abolish the devilish bureaucracy, remove all those grey areas that often are the safe havens and the duelling grounds of the officialdom implicated in these matters, areas with regard to authority, accountability and responsibility and, make strict changes in employment and contract regulations, to hold people, even whole organisations, public or private, responsible and accountable for what they do. And, it is hard to kill long-established habits and perhaps the only way out is inculcation by forceful authority and forfeit, 'The method of Lee Quan of Singapore', especially, when there is no time for schooling. LAKSIRI WARNAKULA - via email Internship dilemma MBBS graduates are a part of the Sri Lankan youth who, like all the other graduates that pass out from the university, have their own future plans, - i.e. to live without becoming a burden to their parents, to help their families, to get married and lead a happy family life after many years of their struggle to study to achieve their present status. To achieve these aims they need an employment that suits their education. But in this situation, it seems that the MBBS graduates are treated in a discriminated manner. The MBBS graduates are a lot who have got a professional education. If they try to provide their service in the field of medicine, can it be considered wrong? There are other professional graduates in Sri Lanka who are treated different from MBBS graduates. For example engineers can find a job in their relevant field as soon as he/she pass out from the university. But the situation faced by the graduates who pass out from the medical faculties is quite different. Though they have completed their degree they have to work for one year period under two consultants before they get registered in the Sri Lanka Medical Council. They are given an allowance and the situation does not change till they are absorbed to the public service. Anyway I strongly agree that the internship is a must. But what does the graduates supposed to do till they get the internship. According to the present situation they have to wait for about one year period of unemployment due to the delays in the process. What do the authorities expect from those graduates in their period of unemployment? Is it farming, working as bus conductors or to be garment factory workers? Would it not be easier for them to use their knowledge in the field of medicine. If it is wrong how long do they have to wait being a burden to their families and even being a burden to themselves. What has happened so far? These medical graduates apart from serving under qualified doctors in private nursing homes and medical centres, they have run their own medical centres. Further to that, they have served in Government affiliated medical institutions like the co-operative hospitals and Army hospitals. This is a well known fact. According to the newest investigations there are about 40,000 unqualified doctors, running their own medical centres in the country. They are not medical graduates nor have they completed any internship, and it is clear that these people have no idea of the medical profession. In a situation like this, is it wrong for a person to engage in the medical profession although he has not completed an internship period? Or is it wrong that somebody gives employment to such people? I feel that it is the duty of the Government to give these graduates their internships as soon as they pass out. Or any other alternative way of maintaining their status and self respect. And at the same time I ask the Government to pay more attention to the question of bogus doctors, by doing this. We can solve the problems mentioned in the article in DN on June 21. DR. SAMAN KUMARA - Ampara. 'Bankers or gamblers' Following Dr. L. S. Randeniya's letter titled 'Bankers or gamblers' published in the DN of June 21, I like to comment on his final paragraph, viz. 'Let the Central Bank carry out their role as supervisors in a diligent, intelligent and unbiased manner.' This is the least a good Central Bank can do to justify its expensive existence. The track record of the Central Bank's management in the recent past raises a big question mark on how good it has been and whether it could justify its expensive existence. They have been charged levelled at the Central Bank that it has been biased in its decision taking. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has been taken to courts so many times in recent years and even there have been accusations of corruption reported in the local media. These are important issues which I hope will be high on the official agenda of the new Central Bank Governor. A new question has now cropped up. Has the management of the Central Bank allowed gamblers to run banks? If so, which bank? There are regulations governing the shareholding in banks. Has the Central Bank knowingly allowed individuals to circumvent these regulations? Another important question is, has the Central Bank been even-handed in its handling of troubled banks? President herself has commented about Samurdhi funds being invested irregularly in one such bank. Recently we have seen rapid branch expansion by certain new banks. Is the Central Bank in a position to justify granting approval for such expansion? Does it take into account the strength of a bank's management, internal controls and its capital and profitability in allowing sudden expansion? The public should not have doubts on the norms which are applied in the decisions which the Central Bank takes. The Central Bank's track record in supervising banks and finance companies leave much to be desired. Its track record in managing and/or liquidating the failed finance companies are worse. The Central Bank is an institution which must have competent and impartial individuals at the helm of things and no doubt the Government gave serious considerations to this in appointing a new Central Bank Governor. In addition, it would be a wise move for the Government to urgently appoint a high level commission to enquire into and evaluate the Central Bank and its performance in recent years in order to examine the causes for recent debacles in our banking and finance sector. R. WICKRAMASINGHE - Moratuwa. Another accidental death This is regarding the news item 'Doctor victim of motor accident dies'. When will we have very generous and more sincere service in our country with regard to any oath taking services? My father died 25 years ago, the same manner, there was no doctor to attend, and the nurse who was supposed to be the nightingale was too busy reading the newspaper! The intravenous that was given to him was not reaching his system, instead the floor was consuming it. As teenagers, with a mother who had never stepped out of the house without the father, we were all lost. Nevertheless, I told the Fat Nightingale that the IV is dripping on to the floor, she had too much to tell us, how she performs her job. We lost our beloved father the next day, under coma. It was less than 12 hours he was there, if only the IV would have reached him in time, his life would have been prolonged. So what is all this fuss with these people who take their jobs to their heart, do their oaths and dedicate themselves to the services, why go through all this, if they can't treat each individual as an individual. This particular incident is highlighted and will come to some kind of justice, only because the victim is a doctor, what about many others who have died and will die just the same way or in other mishaps? Is there any way, these victims will be call to come forward to scream and throw their anger at some people, for the lost of a life? We always presume that things will change for better... perhaps not in this life for us, maybe it will be little too late, because all the future generation will decide to move out when the first opportunity is knocked...., then move to a greener pasture - why comeback to get humiliated and get thrown from post to pillar and also wait for a week to get something important done, when it can be done in an hours time? Everyone is concerned about the war, and through war 'Make hay while the sun shines' is the main motto for the top seatings! Let the nation suffer either with dengue, let the poor learn the trade of stealing, so that they will be on par with the middle class.... let the rich get richer, because it is just a call away, if they have to meet with an accident - the best of facility is available for them, if not here, abroad! NINA HARIM. Why withdraw regulations for three-wheelers? The Western Provincial Council had passed legislation to regulate the three-wheeler industry. This was to take effect from July 1 this year. Members of the public in the Western Province were happy that our representatives in the WPC who rarely travel in three-wheelers had at last thought of the thousands of its citizens. However a few days before the regulations were to be enforced, the Governor of the Western Province decided by himself to withdraw the implementation of the new regulations. When legislation framed and passed by elected representatives of the public for whose sole benefit these regulations had been framed, can a Governor whose only function is more or less ceremonial, have the power to withhold the implementation of these regulations without giving a valid reason. It is time the new members of the WPC take steps to convince the Governor of the WPC that it is time the three-wheeler mayhem was brought under control at least in the WPC. TILAK FERNANDO - Colombo 6. Allow to think Switch on the TV, radio or look at a newspaper, every source tries to 'Educate' the public, on various subjects even when on the move we see all posters, notices, billboards etc. Again to 'educate' us. We have no time to think! Always be learned from so called 'Educate communication'. This will be a big problem as a nation, if we continue only to 'educate' people because people will lose thinking capacity gradually when they don't think. 'Educate' does not lead to create, but 'think' is the root for creativity. So please allow us to think - not only to be 'educated'! K. U. PUSHPAKUMARA - Pitakotte. |
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