More decorum needed at official meetings

It’s become commonplace for politicians to talk down to bureaucrats when they attend official meetings. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made a habit of trying to put officials in their place during his short tenure in office while President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent run-in with the Director General of the Archaeology Department is an example of condescending politicians trying to ridicule public officials.

Last month, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa reprimanded a senior Health Ministry official who interrupted him during the Ministerial Consultative Committee meeting telling the hapless official not to interrupt him and reminding him that he is the Leader of Opposition while the Ministry official is a bureaucrat.

This kind of behaviour is by no means limited to the Executive or party leaders with Parliamentary committees fast becoming places for public bashing of officials.  Be it at meetings of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) or other such committee, MPs who are members of the Committee, are seen addressing officials rudely and haughtily, turning the committee meetings into a trial court more than a forum where problems concerning Government entities should be sorted through discussion and dialogue.

This is not to say that those in the Sri Lanka public service are above blame.  Officials attending committee meetings are questioned based on the findings of the reports submitted by the Auditor General which almost always expose the inefficiency, mismanagement, waste and corruption that is rampant in the sector.  Officials often come ill prepared for meetings and are seen struggling to answer when specific questions are raised about activities inside their own institutions which prompts politicians who sit on committees to take matters into their own hands and belittle bureaucrats. While it is in the domain of politics to play to the gallery, officials don’t help themselves by attending meetings without a thorough knowledge of the subject matter at hand.

Till a few years ago Parliamentary committees met in camera and the media had to depend on their contacts within such committees to gather information on what transpired at closed door meetings.  Journalists were prohibited from reporting on the proceedings of the oversight committees in particular even if they had the information at hand. With the digitalisation of Parliament and airing of live proceedings, committees too were opened up and now transcripts and recordings are made available to the media. While this is welcome and is intended to encourage transparency, the downside has been the attempts by certain politicians to use these forums to bolster their personal images and tutor officials, who can do nothing but sit and listen.

And while this happens, the proceedings of the Committee on High Posts, which examines the suitability of persons nominated as Secretaries to Cabinet Ministries, Heads of Sri Lanka Missions abroad and Chairpersons of Boards, Corporations and other State Institutions, is conducted in camera and all that is released is a statement which says the names have been cleared for such appointment.

Often it is all same Ministry Secretaries and Chairpersons of boards and corporations who appear before COPE, the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) or ministerial consultative committees and struggle when they face queries regarding their institutions.

Both the Executive and elected representatives exercise the sovereignty of the people while they hold office and hence are duty bound to ensure that the officialdom works for the betterment of public good. This gives them authority to summon officials and question them on various shortcomings that need to be addressed diligently.

 Unfortunately, going by the public bashing of officials by politicians, instead of encouraging them to do a better job, they are likely to become hostile and even sabotage Government programs.

Hence be it the President or MPs who serve on committees, there must be more decorum during officials’ meetings without conducting them as political meetings. As for those who take up senior Government positions, they need to do a better job at addressing the findings by the Auditor General and not wait till they are publicly humiliated by politicians to be coerced to work.