Sri Lanka’s public sector needs to undergo conceptual revolution

Even though there are some entities which are relatively efficient, overall, Sri Lanka’s public sector is inefficient

With power comes responsibility. With the new swearing-in of the new ministers, new blood is infused to the Government. However, public sector officials and their thinking patterns at the grassroot levels have not changed. With an inactive, inefficient public sector, can a government run a country and lead it to the utopia that we all think of? Let’s dive into this more deeply and see the depth of the problem.

The public sector accounts for 15% of total employment (i.e. approximately 1.5 m public sector employees) and 35% of formal employment of Sri Lanka. It consumes 26% of public expenditure and 5% of GDP. The public sector consists of businesses that are owned and controlled by the Government or country. It is made of government ministries, departments, local authorities, provincial councils, and state-owned enterprises (SEOs). It is also responsible for providing the public with goods and services such as healthcare, education, police and military. The public sector’s main aim is to look after the welfare of the general public in the country. The capital for the public sector comes from various taxes, excise and other duties, bonds and treasury bills. 

Characteristics of a good public sector

Collaboration, leadership, transparency, accountability, efficiency, ownership, technology and equity are characteristics of a good public sector in providing goods and services to the public.

Sri Lanka’s public sector today

In Sri Lanka, it is sad to observe that the public sector is a white elephant. It is inefficient, inactive, unimaginative, and lacks innovation. Even though there are some entities which are relatively efficient, overall, Sri Lanka’s public sector is inefficient. Public sector officials are lethargic and not accountable nor transparent. Getting things done in the public sector for the common man is next to impossible. Though there are divisions for planning, development, and monitoring, they do not work cohesively together. One reason for this is that there is no performance appraisal system in the public sector. 

Promotions are given on seniority whether the officials are efficient or not which is a key characteristic that differs from the private sector. Project proposals, and financial planning are not done efficiently and meaningfully as they are not properly trained or mentored. Sometimes, senior officials will not take the opportunity to teach and train the junior levels to execute these pivotal assignments.

Public sector jobs are stable, with low risk of termination due to non-performance. As a result, complacency has set in the public sector. The preconceived notion of the employee is that their job is secured irrespective of the performance of a given task. Most public sector organisations exist to serve the public interest and not to make a profit. This also has led to the inefficiency of the public sector in Sri Lanka. Why? Because no targets are set quantitatively or qualitatively in most of the public sector entities, and even if there are set targets, insufficient attention is given to achieving them.

Expectations of the public

On the other hand, public aspirations are high. They want an efficient public sector that will not make them go in circles, sending them from one floor to another and from one table to another, especially in local departments. Senior citizens find it difficult to live their life in the last stages of their lives because of this.

Fine global examples for efficiency in the public sector

Switzerland is the country with the highest public sector performance and efficiency according to a study conducted by the European Central Bank’s working paper on “Public Sector: Efficiency and International Comparison”. Singapore has come out as one of the top in a ranking which tracks the effectiveness of the governments around the world edging out Finland. Australia, UK, Sweden, and Finland are some of the other countries that score high.

Some of the fine Sri Lankan examples for an efficient and effective public service are immigration department and the registrar of persons department. Even though their operations have become fast and efficient post-digitisation, lately there were issues with these two departments as well.

Conclusion

Sri Lanka’s public sector should undergo a conceptual revolution to become the highly efficient service expected by the public. Accountability, transparency, efficiency, should go down to the grassroot level commencing from the new ministerial portfolios.

The new entrants to the public sector should be properly trained and mentored to do an efficient job by the experienced seniors which will not be a difficult task considering the intelligent youth of today. Another way to make it more efficient is to digitise the operations of the public sector. Implementation of incentive schemes to motivate the public sector employees is of paramount importance in this endeavour leading to the reduction of bribery and/or corruption.   

A paradigm shift is needed in the public sector as with the system change which Sri Lanka has implemented very bravely at present.

(The writer is a PR Consultant and a graduate of the University of Kelaniya.)