Ministers the country is blessed with

The question ‘who is eligible to be appointed as a Minister?’ is unanswerable

Selection of the Cabinet

“There are twenty five positions of Cabinet Ministers fallen vacant in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Those who are below the age of 60 years with an unblemished character and possessing the qualifications and experience appearing in the Government Gazette are requested to forward their applications for these positions.

Secretary to The President”

Have you ever come across such a newspaper advertisement? I myself haven’t. It is because according to the Constitution, the President is required to appoint a Cabinet of Ministers to assist him. The Constitution neither spells out selection criteria nor eligibility criteria. The President cannot call for applications. He is compelled to pick the desired number out of 225 Members of Parliament (MPs) voted and elected by you and I at the General election. The President has to contend with whoever you and I elect rather than choosing the best. He has to choose the least worst from among a bad lot.

A formula found

The question ‘who is eligible to be appointed as a Minister?’ is unanswerable. It is similar to the question asked by Alexander the Great as to ‘what comes first is it the day or the night’. That was Alexander the Great. But, our Commander in Chief has once found a formula. He summoned three aspirants for an interview and said that he was going to ask a question; whoever gives the best fitting answer would be appointed as a Cabinet Minister. The question was ‘What is 2 and 2? First aspirant responded it was 22; the second jumped in and said 4; the timid third said ‘whatever you say Sir’. He got the portfolio.

Once at a meeting I told the President that we must invite the Minister in charge for future meetings. The response was, “Yes, Maliyadde let us invite the Minister. Do you know why I appointed that person as a Minister? When our party was experiencing financial difficulties, the Minister’s father assisted us generously.” 

I was serving in the Ministry of Plan Implementation. The Minister was always the President. Once, the President appointed a lady MP as the Minister. She had more often than not been at loggerheads with the Secretary and officials of the Ministry. The Secretary, not having been able to tolerate any more, finally complained to the President. He advised the Secretary, please somehow or the other manage with her; I have no other slot for her.

Today, subjects such as women’s leadership, poverty alleviation are taking a prime place. They are socially as well as economically important in development agendas. Once a President told me, you know Maliyadde, the Ministries such as Women’s Affairs, Social Services, Children’s Welfare have been created not because they are important but, to accommodate a few women who have supported us during the elections.

The size of the Cabinet

The first Cabinet of independent Ceylon consisted of 14 Ministers. It has grown into consisting more than half of the MPs over a period of 77 years and suddenly ended up with three becoming the world’s smallest Cabinet to be ever. The first Minister of Commerce was H.W. Amarasuriya and the position is held today by a descendent of that family, Harini Amarasuriya; a fait accompli. 

Once I inquired about a President as to whether there is a need for such a large Cabinet. The instant response was that according to this proportional representative system introduced by JR’s weird Constitution (Bahubutha Vyawasthawa) there is no way to form a government with a single party. So you have to appoint a large Cabinet to accommodate MPs of several parties that supported us.

Priorities mixed up

During my career in the public service, I have worked with several ministers. I would like to share the experience I had with them. The reader and the leader would be able to form an idea on what sort of a man or a woman would/not be eligible to serve as a Minister. 

Once during a visit to Anuradhapura with my family, I was in the Cultural Triangle. In order to answer a call of nature, I inquired from the security officer where the toilet was located. He pointed to a tiny dilapidated building and warned me ‘Sir, please do not go near the building and do whatever you want 50 meters away from it. The status of the world famous Cultural Triangle which attracts a large number of visitors was as such. When I returned to Colombo I met the Minister in charge of Tourism and informed this pathetic status of the Cultural Triangle. His response was “Hmmm”.

On another occasion, a Minister was chairing a meeting I attended. He stated that more than 60% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is occupied by the service sector. The share of agriculture is less than 10%. The Government has to give priority to expand the services sector further. I, as an idiot, said that the contribution of the agriculture sector is low. But the food security is ensured by that sector. More than 30% of the rural population is occupied in that sector; their only source of income generation is from agriculture: moreover, the Minister’s vote bank is the farmer community. That Minister’s response was better than that of the Minister of Tourism. It was “Okay! Okay! Let us look into that as well”. I believe he is still looking into it.

A legal luminary was once appointed as the Minister of Justice. After a meeting at the Temple Trees he and I were waiting for our vehicles. I casually asked him as to why all these suspects in remand are brought to courts with such an expense and drawing public attention. The judge sitting on the Bench calls the name of each and every suspect and postpones the hearing for another few weeks. Isn’t it more convenient and less expensive for the judge to visit the remand prison and give a fresh date? Legal luminary’s response was an excellent idea of yours Maliyadde, but we cannot do this with these lawyers. They vehemently oppose it. This reminds me of what Colvin once has said; ‘Comrade I recognise money’.

Importance of loyalty

Presidents are of the view that the ‘loyalty’ should be a prime concern in choosing an MP to appoint as a Minister. There was a Minister who was close and loyal to the President. Loyalty was as such, when the President nodded his head once the Minister nodded twice. The President, at a public rally declared that he understands the difficulties undergone by the rural people due to the rundown status of rural roads and bridges. He promised to provide a set of maintenance machinery to each and every Pradeshiya Sabha (Local Authority) before the forthcoming Hindu and Sinhala New Year. He entrusted the job to his close loyal associate Minister. 

During this time I was working to obtain a few sets of maintenance machinery to be provided to some selected Divisional Secretary Offices. For the loyal Minister’s luck or mine those sets of machinery arrived earlier. One day I had a call from the loyal Minister. He asked me whether I can meet him. I agreed and met him. I was treated with a tasty piece of cake and a cup of tea. He said, “Maliyadde, I need a big favour from you. President has promised and already fixed a date to hand over some maintenance machinery to Local Authorities. Unfortunately, the machinery for which I placed the orders has not arrived. I am told that you have got down some machinery. Can you lend them to me for a week?” I pitied the loyal Minister and agreed. 

Next day, he transported them to Galle Face (this was much before the Aragalaya was launched in Galle Face) and organised a ceremony and got the President to symbolically hand over a few machines to Chairmen of Local Authorities. After a week’s time, the Minister returned the machinery to the place where they were stored and profusely thanked me. He said, “Maliyadde, the President trusts me a lot. Thanks to you I saved my neck.” This reminds me of the bed time story of the king who gave his sword to his loyal monkey to save him from flies and insects.

The Cabinet for ‘A Rich Country – A beautiful Life’

I have shared a few incidents and experiences gained during my career. I hope the President can learn a few lessons in selecting his team of 25 Ministers to put life into his Vision of ‘A Rich Country – A beautiful Life’. 

No doubt a minister should be educated, well-read, wise, intellectual, experienced, matured and loyal. But it alone is not sufficient. A learned (Pandithaya) can cross the suspension bridge (Wel Palama) but cannot cross the stream on a single-plank bridge (Edanda). However much loyalty, one cannot give the knife to a monkey. A Minister must be able to feel the pulse of the people and sense the ground reality. 

The only position in the world (and it is a career in Sri Lanka) that does not call for a qualification, age limit, good conduct, experience, maturity or/and loyalty is a position of a Cabinet Minister in Sri Lanka. It’s only a fulfilment of a constitutional requirement. Irrespective of the holder’s in/ability to deliver s/he can retain the job as long as s/he can fool the public and his/her leader. 

Whatever the corruption, crime, accident, loss, and misdeed takes place within the organisation, the holder of the position will continue and retain his/her job. S/he will neither resign nor be sacked. Can you guess what that job is? It is the position of Minister in Sri Lanka. 

Land like no other.

(The writer is former Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation. He can be reached on [email protected].)