Dr. Murali Vallipuranathan
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely“~ Lord Acton (1887)
NPP (National People’s Power) clinches a historic landslide victory, redefining the political landscape in 2024 Parliamentary elections by securing 159 seats out of the 225 seats parliament (1) and getting a record breaking by obtaining 61.56% of the total votes [2]. However, the inexperience in governance and nepotism seems to have started affecting the progress of the new government and the mandate given by the people to eliminate corruption.
Nepotism in the Appointment of Secretary to the President
As traditional practice was, the secretary to the president used to be selected from reputed senior SLAS officers with experience in administration of government ministries and with sound knowledge in government regulations and governance.
He /she is responsible for mentoring and guiding other secretaries in all other ministries and providing timely advice to the HE President on critical issues.
Therefore, the Secretary to the HE played a pivotal role in advising procedural and establishment matters to the whole government system, ensuring smooth administration across the country.
The president appointed a non SLAS secretary to this position, undervaluing its traditional function. The officer appointed is a customs officer (Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake joined the government service as an Assistant Superintendent of Sri Lanka Customs in 1997) [3]. He was chosen allegedly because he was the roommate of HE in the university. If so, he would have been given the private secretary post, not the secretary to the president post. This decision to appoint a customs officer has left the entire administrative structure vulnerable.Custom officer who is not familiar with the customs of governance is now leading the governance structure. Hence, he is fully dependent on the advisors who could easily mislead their boss, as he doesn’t know the intricacies in governance, which could affect the integrity of the Sri Lanka administrative services.
Indecision in the appointments of the Ministerial Secretaries
One such example is that seven ministries are left out without the appointment of secretaries in the recent reshuffle soon after the General Election.
The following ministries have not got secretaries appointed and administrative and financial functions of these ministries are in limbo
1. Ministry of Health and Media
2. Ministry of Science and Technology
3. Ministry of Environment
4. Ministry of Justice and National Integration
5. Ministry of Women and Child Affairs
6. Ministry of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources
7. Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security, and Community Empowerment
Notably the Ministers who are appointed to these ministries do not have experience in managing the ministries in the past.
Secretaries are the chief financial authorities and the disciplinary authorities of the ministries under their purview. Their formal approval is vital for the financial and administrative functions of those ministries.
Due to the delay in appointments of secretaries, decisions are getting pending, and files get stagnated. Some urgent and important matters, for example delay in medical drug procurement can lead to deaths of patients. Further the additional secretaries are too unable to function because they carry out the delegated functions from the Secretaries.
It is said that delays in appointments of secretaries are mainly due to many candidates competing for the said posts. In some ministries, very junior and inexperienced officers compete because they are linked to NPP or JVP. However, delay in making decisions on this crucial matter creates a negative image about the government among the administrative service officers, which may soon spread to the other categories of government officers. If that happens, public trust in the new government will be lost and political opponents will use this chance to damage the popularity of the new government.On the other hand, vital services would collapse due to a lack of decision making.
Appointment of the Secretary of Health to prevent corruption and medical mafia
In the past the Minister of Health [4], Secretary of Health [5] and several high ranking officers were arrested in the alleged fake immunoglobulin procurement and several other alleged corrupt practices involving the medical mafia. CID Inquiries and court proceedings are still going on and it is important to have an independent honest officer to hold the post of Secretary of Health and facilitate the inquiries to end corruption and bring justice to the affected patients.
Dr PG Mahipala a qualified senior medical administrator with international experience who was holding a lucrative job at World Health Organization [6] was brought in November 2023 [7] by the President at that time with an agreement to the conditions of Dr Mahipala that there will be no political interference in performing his duties as Secretary to Health to salvage the Ministry. The new government is trying to remove him while the newly appointed minister and deputy minister are very much juniors and have no prior experience in health sector management. As the medical administrators and SLAS officers favoured by NPP are inexperienced and that led to the worries among health ministry officials that again the powerful medical mafia would start controlling the Health Ministry.
References
[1]. https://www.sundayobserver.lk/2024/11/17/news/37976/npp-clinches-historic-landslide-victory-redefining-the-political-landscape/
[2]. https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=103541
[3]. https://www.presidentsoffice.gov.lk/secretary-to-the-president/
[4]. https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=96957
[5]. https://www.newswire.lk/2023/12/18/corruption-former-health-ministry-secretary-arrested/
[6]. https://sdpi.org/sdconference/Sustainable-Development-in-the-Times-of-COVID-19/Palitha_Mahipala/speakerdetails
[7]. https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/Dr-Palitha-Mahipala-assumes-duties-as-new-Health-Secretary/108-271642
*Disclaimer: Author Dr. Murali Vallipuranathan is a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Jaffna, Peradeniya and Colombo, a Senior Medical Specialist of the Ministry of Health and a Council Member of the Sri Lanka Medical Association. He claims the opinion expressed in this article with social responsibility aims to improve the public awareness, promote good governance, reconciliation and in no way reflects his official positions.
RBH59 / November 26, 2024
Mixing Up The Governance With Politics: A Challenge To The NPP Government
NPP Be the change that you wish to see in the world, A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes, Obama said when he became president he had no previous experience.
AND WHEN THE MAN STEPED FIRST TIME IN MOON THEY DID NOT HAVE PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
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Ajith / November 29, 2024
“AND WHEN THE MAN STEPED FIRST TIME IN MOON THEY DID NOT HAVE PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE”
It is absolutely true but the man stepped First Time must have gone through a long period of training.
I doubt what sort of criteria used in the appointment of the Minister of Fisheries for not only in this government but also in the previous governments.
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LankaScot / November 29, 2024
Hello Ajith,
I watched it live on British TV at around 3 am if I remember correctly. I was 16 at the time and the Astronomer Patrick Moore was one of the Presenters.
Many years later I was mortified ( and pleased) when a friend of mine was invited to a Function in honour of Patrick. My friend , who by the way had no interest in Astronomy, not only saw Patrick during the Event but also sat next to him at the Dinner Table and spoke extensively to him.
I learned from my friend about many of the anecdotes that Patrick had told about the behind the Scenes Events and Panics in the BBC to bring about this Technological Feat of broadcasting “Live” to the whole of the UK and Europe.
But to this Day, I still say to my friend it should have been me, which is usually met with a silent self satisfied smirk.
Best regards
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old codger / November 30, 2024
LS,
That was the time when the Apollo 11 newsreel at the cinema attracted more people than the movie. We didn’t have TV until 1979.
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Pundit / November 26, 2024
Dr. Vallipuranathan, the newly elected Head of State announced when he took office that it will not be necessary to address him as His Excellency, and as such your repetitive use of the salutation HE is superfluous. We must rid our country of such servility.
The President’s Secretary who you refer to as “Customs Officer” is a BSc graduate of Kelaniya University who had been awarded a scholarship by the World Customs Organisation to read for a MA in Public Finance, and subsequently a PhD in Development Economics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo Japan. Many of his research papers on Customs corruption have been published in international journals.
The Secretary to the Presdident Dr. Nandika Kumanayake then, is not a mere “Customs Officer”, but a man of some intellect and training. It is regrettable that you had chosen to belittle Dr.Kumanayake without due research.
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MSarrij / November 29, 2024
Yes, get rid of all servility.
Also get rid of the culture of impunity ruling the country by a few political families with a new constitution in a simple inclusion of AGE and TERM LIMITS TO “ELECTED OFFICE”.
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Raj-UK / November 29, 2024
Pundit
SL customs is probably the most corrupt govt. dept. Maybe Dr. Kumanayake’s hands were tied but why didn’t he resign from his position if it was against his principles? Such a qualified person could easily get another job elsewhere without ‘going with the flow’ at the customs?
Qualifications alone is not enough for such an important position. Nagananda Kodithuwakku was an ex- customs officer who challenged the govt. in courts of unfair privileges but has Dr K made any effort to blow the whistle on corrupt practices of the customs? All I can assume is Dr.K as another ‘yes’ man
By the way, addressing a head of state as ‘HE’ is customary. Are you suggesting that AKD should be addressed as ‘comrade’ instead in keeping up with JVP ideology?
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