According to the Auditor General’s report, the losses caused to the Government by 98 failed State ventures amount to a staggering Rs.82 billion. Every citizen must pay Rs 30,000 every year to maintain these loss-making Government bodies. Chief among the State run ventures which are in the red is SriLankan Airlines.
This has been the case from its very inception. However, no remedy has yet been found. This certainly could have been expected, what with the in-laws of the country’s leaders seated at the helm of affairs at one time.
The report also states that unprofitable State ventures are faced with huge liquidity problems which should prompt the new Government under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to reconsider the feasibility of continuing with these bodies, which, needless to say, are a burden on the State and the public. In fact, President Dissanayake recently said he would soon take a decision with regard to all loss-making Government Departments and Corporations.
It is high time this is done because persisting with these bodies can only aggravate the country’s economic problems. The President must either ensure that these loss-making ventures are turned around and made to run profitably or put the shutters down on them. Besides, the Government must totally divest itself from doing business and make all State bodies run on their own volition. Then only the profitable institutions will survive.
Not only that, most importantly, the practice of carrying out recruitment at the instance of politicians should also be ended once and for all. This has been the chief cause for inefficiency in Government institutions and in turn, the failures of these bodies.
They were stuffed with the supporters of ruling party politicians of every hue since Independence. Things got worse after the 1962 attempted coup where the then Government packed all State bodies with its own supporters to ensure a workforce that is loyal to the Government and thereby secure in its survival. All Governments that followed continued with the sordid practice.
The result was that Government offices were bursting at the seams with supporters of both main political parties paid for by the public purse, of course. These workers were also entitled to pensions resulting in a highly bloated pension bill which subsequent Governments found extremely hard to meet. The political supporters thus occupying positions in Government bodies, as is to be expected, did little or no work, their chief occupation being engaging in trade union action in support of the political parties that gave them the jobs. This way the problem kept on getting aggravated with each change in Government, adding to the burden.
This situation has got to end, period. President Dissanayake will have to take a firm decision in this regard, however unpopular it may be. The State cannot be allowed to bleed in this manner. These failed State ventures, as already mentioned, are a huge burden on the economy. There is no logic, therefore, in continuing with them at least in their present form. All options should be on the table – restructuring, liquidation or privatization, with adequate compensation/alternative jobs in case any retrenchment is involved.
The President should appoint a high-powered Commission without delay to make recommendations on how to go about this matter. The sooner this is done the healthier it will be for the economy, not to mention the public. Failed State bodies which have the potential to be made to run profitably should be given a second chance and made to operate on the lines of the private sector under competent professional managements. This way political meddling too could be completely eliminated from all State ventures.
But not all State sector bodies are inefficient. There are State organizations that could match or even surpass the private sector in terms of efficiency and productivity. The two main State Banks fall into this category. But the same cannot be said for most others. This is because the top echelons in their management until now were for the most part political appointees doing the bidding of their masters.
For instance, during election time, all the resources of these Sate bodies were used for the benefit of the ruling party, milking them dry. A massive sum is still owed to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) by a certain political party that abused its vast financial resources for its election campaigns. The new Government must ensure that this money is returned to the SLPA. Similarly, all State bodies should be legally prevented from providing funds for the election campaigns of the party in power.
President Dissanayake should begin by de-politicizing all Government ventures and removing interference into their running by Ministers and MPs. Professionally qualified persons must be appointed to all Government bodies. This way he can ensure that the practice will survive into the future as well.
The President should change the whole outlook of governance that was practiced hitherto. After all, the President came to power promising a “System Change”, which incidentally was one of the key demands of the Aragalaya. There certainly should be a System Change in the true sense of the term.
