Tea Board serves a bitter cuppa

Chairman slams Govt. for stifling red tape paralysing Tea Board 

• Says 21 containers were delayed, no CFO, ‘can’t get job done’
•  Warns tea promotional fund will be lost if not utilised soon
• Urges influential members of the industry to apply pressure on Govt.
• Eran tells industry to come up with solutions not just apply pressure

Tea Board Chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda

By Chathuri Dissanayake 

Levelling scathing criticism at the Government’s policy performance, a plain-speaking Tea Board Chairman called on members of the industry to use their individual influence on political leadership to pressure the Government to deliver the key needs of the sector. 

Keynote speaker Tea Board Chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda used the opportunity presented by the Tea Traders' Association Annual General Meeting (AGM) to outline the challenges it is up against due to Government red tape and procedures.

“I am being outspoken and possibly suicidal. But I have tried for one and a half years and I have not succeeded. And I know many other heads of institutions are in the same situation. We just cannot cut through the red tape. So while I ask you to bear with me, I also ask you to put pressure because a lot of you are influential and closer to politicians. Put pressure on the political leadership. The fundamental change we need in Sri Lanka is to get our Government administration to work efficiently,” he said.– Pix by Upul Abayasekera 

Admitting that he was dissatisfied with the service rendered to the industry due to the system which “handicaps not just the Tea Board, but pretty much every Government institution” from delivering services, Pethiyagoda called for reforms.

Paying a grudging compliment to the previous Government for cutting through the red tape, he said that “that kind of courage has gone out of Government management now.”

State Finance Minister Eran Wickramaratne 

“Those of us who are responsible for executing Government policy made by politicians can’t really get the job done. I can’t get the global fund moving,” Pethiyagoda lamented.

Referring to the global tea promotion campaign which has failed to get off the ground for the last seven years despite charging Rs. 3.50 for every kilogramme of tea exported, the disgruntled Chairman warned that the Rs. 5.8 billion fund would be lost to the industry

“That campaign has seen three ministers, four ministry secretaries, four chairpersons and four procurement committees and still cannot move. The red tape of the Government is so intricate and so stifling that the Rs. 5.8 billion that lies in the fund is just sitting there like a cherry to be picked. Last year the Government very nearly took it away from you. Sooner or later if the money is not spent correctly it will be lost. It will be lost not because of any fault of yours, nor mine but because we are working in a bureaucracy or system that is simply paralysed,” he said.

Recounting his struggle spanning eight months to recruit a Chief Financial Officer for the board, Pethiyagoda said the Government red tape has made it almost impossible to guarantee a qualified individual for the job. According to him, over three months were taken to obtain all approvals to appoint a qualified person for the job, by which time desirable candidates had already moved to other opportunities, leaving a crucial position on the board vacant. Added to this, the remuneration offered is low, making the position undesirable for many, he said.

“Every department should be given norms. Just like you can get your passport by guarantee within the same day, I should be able to give you a tea culture report within five days. I should be able to give you a laboratory test report within a reasonable time that is publicly known and advertised. And if I don’t, I should be fired,” Pethiyagoda said.

According to him 21 tea containers were delayed last year as the institution was not able to give the tea culture certificate on time due to the bureaucratic procedures involved.

The revelations left the Chief Guest of the night, State Finance Minister Eran Wickramaratne, in a tough corner. In an attempt to address the issues raised by Pethiyagoda, an emotional Wickramaratne urged the industry to not give up and to work for Sri Lanka.

“Does Rohan Pethiyagoda leaving the chairmanship of the Ceylon Tea Board make things better for the industry or does him remaining there and struggling to change the industry make things better for you?” he queried. 

The State Minister encouraged the private sector to not just put pressure on politicians but to find answers themselves and to pursue issues until they received a solution.

“Don’t assume that the people across the table know the answer, particularly when you go into the Government or bureaucracy, that they know the answer. If the statistic which says that 94 people who do not have their basic academic qualification sit at the top of the Sri Lankan political structure, and often people who are more qualified are basically interacting with them, rather than complain about it, I think we need to find ways to get better results even from that structure,” he said.

“So come up with a solution.”

Recounting his experience in turning around the Information Technology and Communication Agency (ITCA), Wickramaratne implied that drastic change was needed with institutions and structures if productivity was to change.