• Says many State sector workers would not survive in private sector or be recruited at all
• Opines performance-based salary is a must, all SOEs need to restructure 
• Claims political decisions, appointments, maladministration, incompetence led to downfall of SOEs
• Asserts majority workers at CEB, CPC, CPSTL are inefficient, incompetent except for a handful 
• Points trade unions affiliated with all political parties thrive on inefficient members of SOEs 

In a bid to step up the Government’s efforts to reform State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has proposed to implement performance-based salaries for the State sector workers, citing many would not survive in the private sector or be recruited at all.

“Performance-based salary is a must,” he opined via a tweet on Saturday, making bold remarks on the current workforce in SOEs under his purview – the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd. (CPSTL).The call for reforms comes following the Cabinet approval of the restructuring of the loss-making and debt-ridden CEB, ahead of the last leg of discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reach a Staff-Level Agreement by the end of this month, for a financial bailout. Reforms in the SOEs had been a constant recommendation by the IMF over the past 16 programs Sri Lanka had with the IMF. 

The deep-rooted populist political policies and entitlements in State sector work culture – pension, multiple bonuses per annum, over-time payments, cost-of-living allowances, and no-pay duty leave for foreign education have aspired most university graduates to seek public sector jobs and it has now expanded to an unbearable level of over 1.5 million over the decades, where the Government is struggling to pay monthly wages amidst the ongoing crisis. 

“All SOEs need restructuring. Political decisions, political appointments, maladministration, and incompetence have led to the downfall,” he pointed out.

Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena last week said the Government has not been able to cover the basic expenditures of last year due to the dire financial situation of the economy.

“Last year the tax income of the Government was only Rs. 1,268 billion, and of that Rs. 1,115 billion was spent to pay the State sector employees’ salaries and as pension. Only Rs. 153 billion remained for all the other development and welfare initiatives,” he explained.

On 18 August, the Power and Energy Minister complained to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate irregularities in the CPC and CPSTL activities. 

As a result of the investigations, last week, he announced that 2,100 unapproved Fuel Storage Tanks were identified operating at business premises, while over 1,250 filing stations were registered with the CPC. 

With the introduction of the National Fuel Pass, the Minister has been reviewing its progress every week and the system has been handy to identify most of the malpractices of the CPC and CPSTL.

Commenting on the workforce, Minister Wijesekera said although there are capable and efficient workers at CEB, CPC, and CPSTL, the majority are inefficient and incompetent.

“A good 500 workforce instead of the 4,200 could do the job efficiently at CPC, CPSTL, and half of the 26,000 workforces at the CEB,” he added.

The Minister also claimed that the trade unions affiliated with all political parties thrive on inefficient members of the three SOEs under his purview.

Despite the strong opposition from the trade unions, Minister Wijesekera affirmed CPC and CEB will go ahead with the reforms.

He held several rounds of discussions, to convey the importance of reforms to the CPC, yet the trade unions affiliated with all political parties opposed the proposed reforms to the SOEs. 

Parliament to debate electricity tariff hike today