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| Wednesday, 11 August 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| Kadirgamar orders : Pride of place in Foreign Ministry to career diplomats A series of ad-hoc appointments made in the recent past to the Ministry as well as to Sri Lanka Missions abroad has resulted in staff redundancies in excess of the approved cadre, seriously undermining the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of these institutions. In order to remedy this situation, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has directed that the Ministry adopt a staffing policy driven by two objectives. Firstly to use the officers of the career service to the maximum extent in filling vacancies in the Ministry as well as in Missions abroad. To this end, the Ministry has already initiated action to hold the open competitive exam within a few months to recruit a fresh batch of young graduates to the Sri Lanka Foreign Service to fill the gap left by over two years of non-recruitment. During the period 1995 to 2001 seven competitive examinations and interviews were held and 107 officers recruited entirely on merit from 12,500 applicants who sat the examination during that period. Second objective is to rationalise the staff deployment with a view to minimising expenditure and obtaining optimum results taking into account the budgetary constraints and the requirements of national priorities such as the economic focus of foreign affairs activities, states a Foreign Ministry press release. In implementing this, the Foreign Minister has directed that the Ministry should aim to save approximately Rs. 50-80 million through a time bound rationalisation programme to downsize staff in missions on a case by case basis. The Ministry may also be required to terminate the services of certain cadres who had been appointed in excess of the approved cadre and disregarding the scheme of recruitment. Political appointments that have been made from outside the career service are being reviewed and the appointees who will not fit into the current policy focus will be requested to terminate their contracts, in accordance with the terms of the agreements between the Government and the officers concerned. A review will also be undertaken with regard to cost-effectiveness of the Diplomatic and Consular Missions and their staff with a view to evaluating their usefulness and where possible, downsizing staff without hampering output. A scheme of recruitment is being put into operation for minor grades based on objective criteria such as seniority, knowledge of languages etc. Ad-hoc appointments as was done in the past will not be made, outside the schemes of recruitment, to the cadres of Diplomatic, Clerical and Minor Grade Officers in the future. Clerical officers and stenographers will be recruited to serve in the missions abroad only through a competitive examination and an interview. Consistent with the above policy, a review is being undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment to streamline and reorganise the postings of the so-called Labour Welfare Officers in order to eliminate inefficiency and abuse and provide optimally efficient service to the Sri Lankan expatriate workers in the Middle East and elsewhere. Based on the review, the existing staff will be adjusted or recalled where necessary, so that public officials, not ad-hoc political appointees, are sent to these posts to ensure accountability. The non-career appointments that have been made as Information Counsellors are being discontinued and the resulting vacancies reverted to the career service as the Ministry's objective is to recruit, develop and retain within the Ministry a group of diplomatic officers with information skills. The Ambassadorial appointments to be announced shortly will be mostly from the career service which will be augmented by selected appointments depending on the service and national requirements relevant to the particular posts. |
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