Friday Sep 20, 2024
Friday Sep 20, 2024
Thursday, 6 January 2011 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Dear Mr. President,
Citizens acknowledge your new year wish for 2011. They in turn bless that you may have the leadership capability, inner strength, correct vision, courage and support for good governance-led realisation of this dream and meeting the major challenge identified in order to raise the position of the country before the world.
The citizens assure you that they will support initiatives you take with giant steps towards development based on the fivefold sectors of progress, provided they meet the prioritised needs and aspirations of all segments of society and add value to the nation and its people in the longer term.
Civil society takes this opportunity to place before you 12 significant steps that will be of critical importance in the discharge of your responsibility to society and your accountability in realising the vision of the nation.
1. Asewanacha Balanan Pandithanancha Sevana (associate with those with wisdom)
Associate and seek the advice of erudite wise men and women of wisdom. Validate ideas and proposals before you with them. Tell them to give you their best advice based on placing the nation Sri Lanka as a whole and all segments of its society as the first and only priority..jpg)
Develop a set of questions you ask every time an idea or a proposal is before you, raising issues of: Why? What for? What outcomes? What risks? Who are the beneficiaries? Whether there are other competing priorities? With what resources? Where? When committed/completed? Who takes accountability? What prior track record? What should I do before commitment? Who will supervise? Who will and with what follow up information and actions? Who will carry out post audit?
Beware of those who only praise you, venerate you, say how great and indispensable you are, erect pandals and place cut outs and statues of you and constantly say “Chiran Jayathu!”
For example, the above questions should be raised and justifications obtained from those who proposed committing to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, reclamation of the Galle Face, building race tracks, removing all reference to Ceylon and singing the National Anthem only in Sinhalese. The independent wisdom laden advice should have been sought on these before commitment.
2. Outcomes be the goal, not inputs nor outputs
Ask that all proposals, presentations, plans, justifications, progress reports/reviews, management information, project management focus and audit reports be based on expected/actual outcomes as impacting on the nation and all its people and not on inputs like amount spent nor expected outputs.
For example, when your key officials place output statistics of annual GDP growth rate above 8% per annum and per capita GDP of $ 4,000 or even 6,000, ask them to present to you in simple terms, of how it will in effect impact on the householders of the poorest Pradeshiya Sabah area of Siyabalanduwa, Harispattuwa, Cheddikulam, Mussali, Tissamaharama, conflict impacted villages of Kilinochchi, Veddha families of Mahiyangana, estate areas of Nuwara Eliya and tenements of Colombo.
In respect of these, ask for the impact on household income/expenses/savings, unemployment, malnutrition, educational attainment, housing stock with availability of sanitation, water, electricity and telecommunications and access to markets/public services and ask how much of the bank net savings have been invested in these areas?
3. Justify all key spends and commitments
Ensure that all proposed spends with a cash value of Rs. 0.5 billion and any commitments with a cash value of Rs. 1 billion are supported by a full national socio economic cost benefit justification, meeting agreed minimum outcome based returns.
The justification must also assure that the spends and/or commitments will, and how it will, advance the nation and the people in the longer term and must be subject to delivery accountability commitments for resource allocations, project management, outcomes, and quality/time targets and with post audits highlighting lessons leant and consequential action.
For example, it is not late to ask the authorities for such justifications on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, reclamation of the Galle Face, and building race tracks.
A process of comprehensive risk analysis, risk mitigation strategy development, risk management processes and risk transfer arrangements must be an inherent part of project management programmes instituted for all key spends and commitments.
4. Seek macro stability led competitiveness
Macroeconomic and fiscal management must ensure acceptable outcomes strictly meeting revised fiscal responsibility targets and resultant acceptable outcomes in the form of inflation, exchange rates and interest rates.
Towards this zero based budgeting, commitment based accrual accounting, midyear budget outline with assumptions and goals and key project identifications with justifications and a post audit of the budget outcomes taken as a whole will need to be instituted.
The international competitiveness of exports as well as import substitution agriculture and industries must drive policy reforms, public investments, and strategic action in managing public infrastructure, public service delivery effectiveness and technology/best practice transfer facilitations.
5. Reign in debt obligations
Towards effectively reigning in the debt obligations take the example of George Papandreou, the Greece’s American born Harvard educated Prime Minister – a Socialist – who since negotiating a E 120 billion international bailout for his debt ridden nation aimed at slashing debt and reigniting growth, and importantly used the crisis as an opportunity to clean up the Greece’s corrupt politics and deregulate its uncompetitive economy, noting that the financial crisis highlighted reforms not attempted and implemented for decades which led to mismanagement of the country and adopted the following transformational leadership strategies:
Papandreou noted that “a successful reform isn’t about market orthodoxy and it is all about good governance, about changing the structure of government and making it more transparent, effective and efficient”.
6. Effective international relations
Whilst capitalising on the present excellent network relations with China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Burma, further strengthen genuine good network relations led trade and investment partnerships with India, recognising it as the proximity closest, close regional giant foster partner of Sri Lanka.
Renew and build back on the close and positive value adding network partnerships with the developed West (especially Britain, EU and USA) and Japan and Australia, Canada and Nordic countries, ASEAN nations, and SAARC Countries that form the backbone of this nation’s trade, services, investments and technology transfers.
Be a committed partner of the UN and its associated agencies upholding globally accepted Conventions. Be a bridge builder in partnership with the international financial agencies like IMF, World Bank, ADB and a hand holding common commitment bound partner with international assistance and good governance driving NGOs.
7. Reconciliation and winning over marginalised segments
Genuinely commit to build a nation of citizens living in peace and harmony with commonly committed national vision and openly recognise groups and segments of society previously marginalised and disadvantaged due to leadership mistakes in history. Take all steps to reconcile with them and align them to be an integral part of a society bound together by the national vision, values and norms acting as the binding glue.
Towards this, reduce the centralisation of power and build voices of the community representative of the grassroots who are effective partners in governance, fair and equitable national resource allocation and implementation effectiveness of projects and public services touching the grass root community.
8. Rule of law, justice and democratic governance
Make the application of the rule of law, justice and democratic governance in Sri Lanka the bench mark example of Asia.
9. Work ethics and societal values and norms
Through effective and collective leadership initiatives transform the present work culture to a Confucian work ethic, consisting of a belief in the value of hard work, loyalty to the organisation, thrift, dedication, social harmony, a love of education and wisdom and a concern for social proprietary.
10. Human resource capability
Through effective and collective leadership initiatives transform the present education system to produce an adequate pool of human resources with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values representative of the best capabilities in Asia.
In addition, ensure that this pool of resources comprise of individuals with physical and mental capabilities to match the expected best standards in a workforce, towards which ensure through effective good governance that malnutrition, ICT support, poverty eradication and public service deliveries including health, water, sanitation, electricity, housing, communications and transportation, supports the human resource pool to remain competitively capable on a sustainable basis.
11. Transparency and anti corruption
Facilitate openness in all communications, encourage and empower citizens’ right to information, uphold UN Convention against Corruption and eliminate abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Eliminate nepotism, waste and abuse of national resources and minimise discrimination and/or marginalisation of communities from free access to public services and national resources.
12. Leadership focus and style
Your leadership focus should be visionary, with a long term time horizon and with the growth and prosperity of the nation as a whole and its entire people as the priority. You should ensure that all national resource allocations are for the benefit of all in society, including all marginalised and disempowered groups and segments. You should take accountability to lead the executive team to deliver transparent and democratic good governance consistent with international best practices.
Your leadership style must change to being transformational and you must be driven by the voice of the community and their real aspirations and needs. Transformational leaders are those who engage with followers, focused on higher order intrinsic needs, and raises consciousness about the significance of specific outcomes and new ways in which those outcomes might be achieved.
As a leader of this nation, commit to build a nation consistent with its citizens’ agreed vision and accepted values and norms of society that have been time honoured. Accept as a personal leadership challenge the successful realisation of the 12 steps outlined in this paper and effective national risk management, along with eradication of poverty, assuring environmental and ecological sustainability and earliest achievement of millennium development goals.
You will certainly be able to realise your new year wish, if you follow these steps, Mr. President, and certainly then people will cheer you genuinely with the words “Chiran Jayathu!”
(The writer is a former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.)
