Trimming the fat

The decision by the Government to appoint only one advisor per Ministry is indeed a welcome move. According to a news report Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga has already notified all the Ministries in this regard. This is with the view to avoid appointment of advisors unnecessarily to Ministries and also to cut down on expenses. In future, advisors will be appointed only with Cabinet sanction after a request is made by a Ministry. This we hope will buck the trend of Ministers appointing advisors to suit their fancy. To begin with the term advisor is a misnomer. They are mostly henchmen of the Minister concerned or a defeated candidate who has little or no grasp of the subject matter.

Today such ‘advisors’ are a dime a dozen in Government. Most of these appointments are sometimes without merit made and are done as political favours. Some Ministries have as much as four advisors. Needless to say they are redundant in most instances. True, one cannot expect Ministers who are laymen to grapple with subjects that are alien to them. In such instances there is no fault in recruiting competent advisors to guide them on the subject.

But while we have qualified advisors attached to some of our Ministries where expert advise is called for, in most instances they are political deadweight who know little or nothing about the subject at hand. This needless to say is a waste of public funds and a reflection of how the Ministry concerned functions.

Now with the Cabinet screening all advisors to Ministries it is hoped that good sense will prevail and the right individual appointed instead of those square pegs in round holes who are there only to enjoy fat salaries and perks.

Not only with regard to advisors today most Government departments and corporations have incompetents as their heads with no clue about the subjects entrusted to them. Some are known for wasteful indulgences and profligate spending as revealed time and again in the Auditor General’s Annual Reports.

One need not labour the point that this is not a time that the country can afford such indulgences when the Government has embarked on an unprecedented development drive and where the Treasury will need to save every penny if we are to accomplish the task.

True, any Government may be obliged to appoint some of its supporters or financial backers to top positions. This has happened right throughout in our political history. The patronage system has long been dominating Lankan politics. But it is time to do away with such practices. If the Government needs to make such appointments it should be extremely selective ensuring that only the qualified are recruited. This Government no doubt has made some sound appointments keeping in mind the dictum ‘horses for courses’. The appointment of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa a war veteran as Defense Secretary is one such appointment that has already been vindicated.

It would indeed be to the benefit of the Government and country at large that appointments to important positions are done after a proper evaluation. Ideally the Government should set up an Independent Committee comprised of knowledgeable experts from a wide range of fields to decide on such appointments before they are approved by the Cabinet.

This will not only help counter accusations of favouritism and political bias but also be productive in terms of output by ensuring that the right choice is made.

What we have today are top-heavy administrations in Ministries with little being done down the line. This is seen not just in the number of advisors but also sundry staff which has no relevance to the Ministry or subject it is dealing with. On most occasions work is being duplicated.

For instance there are today press officers attached to a single Ministry in addition to Information Officers and Public Relations Officers. Needless to say there is bound to be a overlapping of duties not to mention the unweildiness of such appointments.

Today in this high tech age the world is moving towards small governance with the least manpower resources. This not only saves massive expenditure but also is easy to monitor. Such a scaling down is called for in Sri Lanka’s context where huge surplus staff in Government institutions has been the norm.

Therefore it is hoped that the latest decision by the Government to reduce the number of advisors to a single Ministry would be a catalyst in the trimming of the fat not only in Government Ministries but also our bloated public service leading to small administration that is easy to monitor and most of all would deliver the goods.