A person should get paid for something he/she does and no one gets paid for doing nothing. But here in Sri Lanka a certain group of ‘Public Servants’ get paid for doing nothing at all. The most surprising fact is no Sri Lankan speaks about them and almost all Sri Lankans only see the faults of politicians.
Fortunately by now some say that the Sri Lankan economy is in this grave situation today due to the conduct of those who got paid for doing nothing and not due to the conduct of politicians. But in one way, it has been the politicians who ruled the country during the past 74 years who turned a blind eye and deaf ear to the issue and let those ‘public servants’ get paid for doing nothing.
We are talking about the minor staff attached to State institutions and especially those in the cleaning and security services of State institutions. By now almost all cleaning services and security services of State institutions such as schools, State Ministries, departments, authorities, etc. are run by private institutions and large sums of money are being paid to private companies for providing these cleaning and security services to State institutions. But the pathetic situation is not that. It is something else.
The ordinary people who pay tax from every cent they spend do not know whether to laugh or cry whenever they see how the public servants who are actually responsible for the cleanliness and security of those State institutions get paid monthly for doing nothing. Some of those responsible for cleanliness and security guards come to their respective ‘State offices’ only one day per month and that day is ‘pay day’. On all other days, they do their own work and sometimes are involved in other private jobs without coming or at least signing in at their respective offices.
Sri Lanka continued this unproductive process during the past 74 years but the country cannot continue it any longer. Billions of rupees in public money are being paid to certain categories of public servants who are doing nothing at all during the entire service period till their 60 year retirement age.
People talk about billions of rupees robbed by various politicians but say nothing about the robbing and wastage of public money by public servants that has been taking place for the past 74 years. This is a result of the brain washing done by various trade unions created by the same workers. They do not stop taking public money as their monthly salary. They demand bonuses etc. from the bankrupt State institutions which have been pushed to that situation by themselves.
In the recent past some State schools located in the Bandaragama Divisional Secretariat Division were broken into by the robbers at night. Usually those schools hire private security guards in the daytime and rarely at night. No robbery takes place when the private security guards are on duty and all robberies take place when State security guards are there. What is surprising is that nothing happens to the public servants who fail to perform their duties and are relaxing at home. No action had been taken against those public servants who did not guard the State schools at night. They still act like nothing happened even though valuable items of those State schools have been stolen.
The situation is the same when it comes to the cleaning services of State institutions. While there are plenty of minor staffers attached to those State institutions, cleaning services are being obtained by private institutions by spending millions of rupees. The minor staff members do nothing or they do other duties which are not listed to their duty roster.
The previous Government provided 100,000 employment opportunities for those without Ordinary Level qualifications. This is another huge waste of public funds. At present, those employees are using drugs, social media and doing their own things during their official duty hours without any control of their employers. They come to office in whatever attire they want and just kill time. Their designation is given as ‘Mullti Task’ which means they should be ready to do whatever the task given by their employer but they do not work at all. Sometimes, they cannot work with their attire. They do not know how to work because they have never worked before. They are not ready to learn because they think that paying for doing nothing is the sole responsibility of the Government. The best example can be found at State schools in rural areas.
Last week the President emphasized that it is the responsibility of public officials to provide maximum public service without causing a conflict between public institutions and public officials and should never give reasons for not performing their duties. The President also emphasized that Government officials should use the law as a shield to serve the people and not the companies.
Now is the time for all officials at all State institutions to understand what the President told them and act accordingly. But this is typical Sri Lanka and making changes is next to impossible with traditional public servants who think that the country should offer them everything and they do not need to offer anything in return to the country. A Government must take stringent measures to compel public servants to get rid of the negative attitudes.
Sri Lanka has more than 1.5 million public sector employees at present, the size having doubled over the past 15 years, according to official data. Efficiency in the public service is lower compared to that of Sri Lanka’s peers in Asia, despite there being a public servant for every 14 citizens. By now Sri Lanka has reached a crucial juncture. The country cannot move forward like it did for the past 74 years. There should be a clear cut contribution from each and every citizen of Sri Lanka for the betterment of the country, especially to the economic progress. One public servant for every 25 or 50 citizens is more than enough. It is time to reduce the number. The existing public servants who have not reached their retirement age should be deployed to the State offices, departments, ministries etc. where there are vacancies and they should be given a short training for their tasks. The current Government should be bold enough to resist any possible pressure put on it by trade unions.
After 74 years, the current President and the Government has a historical task to complete in order to establish a productive public service for the country which will last forever. That is the total eradication of the Ragging curse from all State Universities. Ragging is practiced by a small political group which does not have any representation in the country. They dominate all State Universities and send the brainwashed graduates to all State institutions in the country. Fortunately, they cannot resort to their deadly practice in private institutions. That is why the private sector is recognised as the country’s engine of growth while the public service lags behind.
This very strong nexus between State University ragging and the poor quality service meted out by State institutions should be broken forever. Recruiting graduates to the public service should be immediately halted until the Government totally eradicates ragging from all State Universities. The current or the next Government should start recruiting graduates to the public service only after totally eradicating ragging from all State Universities. If not, the brainwashed graduates will expect everything from the country while offering nothing in return. They are the public sector employees who demand bonuses when their companies are facing bankruptcy. They will engage in nonstop strikes until all their requirements are fulfilled with the poor people’s tax money.
It is the right time for the people to understand that the damage caused by 1.6 million public servants to the country’s economy is much more than the damage caused by the 225 Members of Parliament during the past 74 years.
The people should focus on facts and figures and not cartoons, pictures, photos etc. and fabricated information circulated on social media platforms.
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