By: justitia

justitia — Thu, 06 May 2010 12:33:02 +0000

Sri Lanka does have a bloated beaurocracy which along with the pensioners needs a good portion of the revenue for maintenance. But the state employees do not put in their required quota of work daily with a few exceptions like doctors who are, or at least were in my time, 7 day 24 hour workers with only every other sunday off. The pensioners worked for 40 years to earn 70% of their basic salary as pensions.
But this is not the whole story. Corruption and wastage of state resources and funds are the main cause of the budget deficit.
As it is, though we are constantly being reassured, we are on a path to end up like the PIGS nations – the IMF & World Bank appear to think so.
The remedy is in our hands – correct all of above and redistribute responsibilities to educated qualified persons, not relatives and cronies.
There is a Minister for ‘livestock development’ – to look after cows & bulls only. Other ministers have been assigned subjects which need not come under their purview.
But the immediate need – with all this – is said to be to increase the terms of the president to more than two. Abolition of the presidential immunity is NOT on the cards – nor is good governance through the 17th Amendment – never mind the 13th. There are ‘intellectuals’ explaining why the 17th amendment has to be revised – though it was debated for a long time, and passed in one day as all were in agreement.
Now the new prime minister is shouting about the ‘resurgence’ of the LTTE – worried by the the noises the tamil diaspora are making – merely to sustain the ‘peacetime army’ – which should be made use of in productive ventures.
As the writer says, we must learn from our own and others’ mistakes.

Comments on: PIGS: The Achilles Heel of the EU and lessons for Sri Lanka’s policy makers and corporate sector

By: justitia