Make appointments in country’s interest, not political interests

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has locked horns with the Constitutional Council (CC) in recent days over the delay in the confirmation of names he sent to the Council for new appointments to the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal as well as a new Inspector General of Police (IGP). He proposed the appointment of a parliamentary select committee to investigate how the CC process can be expedited and the ongoing stalemate between the Executive and the CC can be overcome.  

The appointment of a select committee has been criticised by opposition politicians as well as members of civil society saying the purpose of the CC was to depoliticise the selection process of senior State officials and would once again lead to political interference in appointments.

The delay in the appointment of a new IGP has been the most obvious case where the President and the CC have been unable to reach an agreement. The term of the last IGP was extended for nearly nine months. Then this week Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon was appointed the Acting IGP. He assumed duties pending confirmation in the post. The Catholic Church has stepped in criticising the appointment saying Tennakoon was among several officers accused of negligence that led to the Easter Sunday bomb attacks but several Buddhist organisations have stepped into support the appointment of Tennakoon.

Meanwhile the new judge the President has nominated to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court is a name that has been drawn into the ongoing saga around Sri Lanka Cricket. The former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe along with several opposition MPs have drawn his name into the debate over corruption in SL cricket and stalled the confirmation of his name.

Herein lies the problem. Depoliticising the public service in Sri Lanka is a lot more difficult than getting laws passed to make senior State level appointments merit based and transparent. The President has to pick names from the seniority list, but seniors aren’t always the most deserving to hold certain positions. 

Bypassing names too is tricky and could lead to legal challenges to such appointments. The case of Acting IGP Tennakoon has also shown that external pressures put on State sector appointments with everyone having an opinion on who should or should not be appointed to certain posts. 

What all this shows is that there needs to be an overhaul in the mechanism, used for appointment of senior State sector officials to top positions, which the CC alone is not equipped to deal with.  

The High Post Committee of Parliament which scrutinises those nominated as heads of Sri Lanka overseas missions, Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Department, etc. is more or less a rubber stamp with no proper confirmation process adopted to ensure the suitability of nominees. The selection process adopted by the HPC too needs to be overhauled.

Most State sector services in Sri Lanka are at their lowest ebb given years of politicisation with many holding top positions preferring to bend to the dictates of politicians than abide by rules. The court convictions against senior officials in recent years illustrate how bad the situation is. It’s a far cry from when Lankan bureaucrats held their own in any forum and stood firm in the face of political pressure. Now it has become more a case of survival by being servile to any political master.

If any meaningful politicisation is to take place, there must be more scrutiny of nominees, to pick the best among a bad lot, and there must be more transparency in the process. Efforts must be made to make the appointments based on merit and not favouritism. The ongoing deadlock between the President and the CC does little to raise public confidence that the appointment process is without political interference. The sooner these matters are sorted out in the best interest of the country, it will be better for all.