COPE eye-openers

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), headed by Senior Minister DEW Gunasekera, has won accolades from both sides of the legislature for what has been described as a ‘historic report’, and we too contribute to this congratulatory applause for a job well done. Some 229 state institutions were investigated in record time under a number of heads in relation to effective financial management and connected issues, and we hope COPE recommendations for those bodies running at a loss, in particular, would be vigorously implemented. Coming out with a report of this nature, ahead of schedule, is a difficult enough challenge but the public expectation is likely to be that redoubled efforts would be put in from now on to also implement COPE prescriptions for public sector rejuvenation.

We have been reporting on COPE revelations over the past few days and it is plain to see that some state institutions have been incurring staggering expenses with no substantial return to the public on the mind-boggling amounts of money thus expended for running these bodies and implementing their projects. In other words, there has been little or no public accountability on the part of these bodies, nor has there been any financial discipline worth speaking of.

Accordingly, the authorities have no choice but to get tough with those organizations which are not giving a good account of themselves, in terms of profitability, productivity and efficiency. The importance of this task could be gauged from the fact that it is the hard-earned money of the public which is not being put to productive use by the loss-incurring public institutions in question.

The COPE disclosures, we hope, will be treated as eye-openers by all concerned quarters, including, of course, the state. The latter should be quite aware by now, of the wasteful ways in which public funds are being used and the numerous forms of mismanagement that some of our public institutions are being unconscionably subjected to. This is the time to crack the whip and to put things right when development is being highlighted, very rightly, as the most essential national requirement.

Time and again we have highlighted in this commentary the vital role the public sector has been playing over the decades in national development. It has been pivotal, for instance, in the sustenance of the welfare system, which has been so much of a boon to the so-called ordinary people of this country. If all this is accepted, then, the vitality and efficiency of the state sector needs to be continuously maintained and for this purpose the financial health of the sector must be stringently ensured through the institution of corrective measures against the numerous ills affecting public organizations.

We need to be guided by the lessons of history when undertaking challenges of this kind. We have witnessed with dumbstruck dismay, the manner in which public sector organizations which play an essential role in taking goods and services to the people have ground to a halt on account of being overstaffed, for instance. Such irregularities must be avoided if the public sector is to play a productive role in the life of the people.

For instance, the CTB of old times, was rendered unproductive and inefficient as a result of over-staffing. What such failures have meant for the people, we see today in the form of the negative consequences faced by the country as a result of being forced to depend too heavily on the private transport sector.

Putting the public sector right is not going to prove easy but the challenge has to be undertaken and won. Unfortunately, over the years, a ‘commissions and kickbacks culture’ has been allowed to take deep root in this country and this cancer knows no bounds. It cuts across sectors and currently, very many personnel care more for the perks and privileges of office, rather than address their minds to their foremost duties. This malaise has to be uprooted too and should be seen as central also to the challenge of reviving the public sector.