Short on policy, long on micro-decision-making

by R.M.B. Senanayake

(March 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)I was listening to Dr Amal Kumarage former Chairman of the National Transport Commission on TV. He made the point that the politicians in charge of policy making are not really interested in policy problems but only in how to appoint one of their supporters to the CTB. He pointed out that they do not take an over-all view of the transport sector and its problems which require policy decisions. I think he has made a valuable point. What has our politics got to do with this tendency to individual ad hoc decision-making rather than policy-making? Is policy making then doomed?

Our Ministers may not have deteriorated so much as Caligula who appointed his horse to the Senate. But the horse at least had a track record. Not so those nincompoops appointed by our Ministers to important posts for which they have neither the qualifications nor the experience. Look around and see whether there has been any change in this pattern by the new President Mahinda. Who is in charge of the CEB for example?

It is not only in appointments that the rules of modern governance are violated. President Mahinda has ignored the calls from civil society to appoint the Constitutional Council. Why should he when it pre-empts the possibility of filling the posts with party cronies. When cronies are appointed there is another advantage. They will do the bidding of those who appointed them. So contracts can be awarded to crony businessmen who have contributed to party funds. After all contesting an election under the PR system with its massive electorates is a costly exercise. Who will fork out the money and should those who do so not expect a return. So the politicians are in hock to businessmen and the underworld. What better way than to reward them from public funds.


Winner takes all politics

Our elections since 1956 have been called ‘winner takes all contests. The biggest loser is the country. Parties win elections not because they win the battle of ideas, not because they think ahead, not because they formulate cogent policies, not because they offer a positive vision of the future. They win only by cooking up populist promises which they are incapable of implementing owing to the under-lying economic or political reality. Our political system is seriously flawed. Elections and the politics associated with it are run on commercial principles. At election the political parties invest huge sums of money in buying votes. The winners seek to recoup their investment and repay their financiers by profiting from the award of govt. contracts and concessions. They also try to direct as much government spending as possible to their constituencies.

The struggle for the perks of office leads to factionalism within parties Political parties are nothing but factions to get into power. Ask any member of a political party what that party stands for and you will not get a coherent reply. Why? Because they neither know nor care about the policies of the party. The UNP has inherited some liberal democratic values and private enterprise oriented polices but the average member has neither appreciation of them nor understanding of what policies the party stands for. So the party is looked upon by the members as a device to grab power. So they berate Ranil because he failed to win power and is said to have a proneness to lose elections. The bickering in the UNP is not about policy. In fact Ranil’s policy on the CFA and the ethnic issue are being vindicated with President Mahinda and even the JVP having to come to terms with reality.

MPs spend their time in office consolidating their political dynasties by doling out jobs, favors, & pork barrel funds. So they gravitate naturally to the leader who can provide the largest largesse, abandoning their party in the process. Presidents without a majority in Parliament can build one overnight, providing they are willing to pay for it with hefty dollops of public money. Since political clans have few goals beyond preserving and expanding their influence they have little interest in policy making. They however are all committed to raise their pay.

So what determines and who defines the character of the party is its presidential candidate. Since Ranil lost the presidential election he is under siege and the party seems to be paralyzed. It is failing to function as an Opposition Party while its members cross-over to enjoy the perks of office and recoup what they spent on the general election


Special interest groups determine lack of policy

A shift is needed in power away from such narrow special interest-groups and towards the interests of the majority. This is where Amal Kumarage’s point comes into play. There is no incentive for the Executive whether the President or his Ministers, to consider policies. Their interest is in the micro-decisions like who will be appointed to a job or who will be awarded a contract. So policy-making goes by default. This used to be carried out by the bureaucrats in the past. But now the bureaucrats also hold office at the pleasure of the President and or his Ministers. So their task is also to discharge the duties expected of them by these appointing authorities. It would be foolish for them to engage in planning or policy-making. Even if they were to do so, they would meet with opposition from special lobbies. If a super-highway is to be built then adjoining houses may have to be acquired compulsorily. This will bring upon their heads the MPs of the area who will campaign on behalf of their constituents. So the road trace may have to be changed. If the bureaucracy seeks to make changes in policy which in some way meet with opposition from the trade unions they are done for. They will hold the government hostage as in the case of the proposed re-structuring of the CEB. Everywhere in the world the power industry is being re-structured just as the telecommunications industry was restructured to eliminate monopoly. Just see the enormous benefits to the public after the demolition of the monopoly held by the SLT. The mobile phone revolution would never have been introduced here otherwise. If the electricity industry is re-structured then foreign capital could flow into this highly capital intensive industry. There could be public-private partnerships. It is a myth to assume that infra structure projects can be handled only by the public sector. In fact the entire electricity industry was originally built up by the private sector. There were the pioneers like Edison who introduced the first industrial laboratory in 1876.Then came General Electric Co in 1900 in USA, Siemens in Germany. The entirety of the research, the technology and equipment were produced by the private sector. The application of the inventions on a commercial scale whether in generating electricity or in the lighting industry as well as in motors and in transport like trolley buses were by the private sector? Most of these private sector companies are still around and new ones have arisen in the East Asian NICs. Hong Kong businessmen invested in the Thai electricity industry for example. So let us not under-estimate the potential for the private sector to come into the power generation industry. In any case our state is bankrupt and depends on foreign aid to implement any large capital investment project. But the CEB trade unions are holding the country hostage to stop any foreign capital flows into the industry. They would like to preserve their monopoly status for then the cost of their inefficiency and waste can be passed on to the public.

It is the same with all sectors whether it be energy or transport or education or healthcare. The trade unions oppose any change. They prefer the status quo. So don’t expect any public service to perform in the public interest.


Malady in public sector cannot be cured with our politics

The position in the public service is for life. Dismissal is rare and is against the law. Promotion is automatic. Regular increments in pay are guaranteed. Performance is always marked ten out of ten. A comfortable job for some lucky guy. Its structure and organization have become wonky due to tinkering by politicians. A creaking state machine ties down business with red tape & makes the country less

competitive. It is overstaffed, unproductive & expensive. Its wage bill is nearly 10% of the GDP. It could lose a 150,000 with no loss of efficiency. It would be worth paying them to be at home Ranil decided.

To allow trade unions and other lobby groups to hold government hostage is to betray the public interest. Most voters would prefer the government to pay attention to the core issues-poverty, health care, schools, police, increase the power of local government, promote small business, and provide subsidies to small business and so on. Three months have passed and in what way has the public benefited from Mahinda Chinthanaya. What we find instead is that the Constitution is being violated and the media are being muzzled by the threat of violence against them by interested parties.


Checks and balances undermined

Neither party has an interest in building strong checks on executive power. So the Opposition is sleeping while the Constitutional Council is dysfunctional and the majority of members of the JSC have resigned because their conscience doesn’t permit them to remain. Here are two respected members of the Judiciary resigning for some valid reason. But no one in Parliament is inclined to ask them what has bothered them and led them to resign. The public can guess the source of the disturbance to their conscience but those who are elected to uphold the Constitution and protect fundamental principles like the independence of the Judiciary have neither eyes to see nor ears to listen. They must be hoping the issue will soon be forgotten with the next scandal that is bound to crop up. Who says scandals must be investigated. That is in America as Sunil Pereira says in his song.

The PR system with large electorates has increased money politics and corruption. It must go along with the party lists for good governance to have a chance. Until then the Anti-Crossover law must be strengthened or bye-elections introduced when MPs cross-over.
- Sri Lanka Guardian