Right to Efficient,Effcetive and Responsive Governance-English

8/9/2019 Right to Efficient,Effcetive and Responsive Governance-English

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CITIZENS RIGHT TO EFFICIENT,

EFFECTIVE AND RESPONSIVE

GOVERNANCEAN EXAM INATION OF THE ROLE OF PUBLICADMINISTRATION IN MODERN STATE AND AN OVERVIEW OFPUBLIC ADM INISTRATION IN SRI LANKA

A.M. Navaratna Bandara


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CITIZENS RIGHT TO EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE AND RESPONSIVE

GOVERNANCE:

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN MODERN

STATE AND AN OVER VIEW OF THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN SRI LANKA

A. M. Navaratna-Bandara

UNIVERSITY OF PERADENIYA

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

PERADENIYA

AUGUST 2009


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction - Governance and Public Administration 01

2. Role of public Administration in Modern State 07

3. Best Administrative Delivery Practices in Other Countries 16

4. The Public Administrative System in Sri Lanka An Overview 25

5. The Constitution and the Public Administration in Sri Lanka 34

6. Citizens Perception towards the Public Administration in Sri Lanka 43

7. Conclusion - Right to Efficient, Effective and Responsive Governance 52


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Preface

This report is prepared to facilitate an informed civil society dialogue on Citizens right toefficient, effective and responsive administrative governance. The report discusses the role of

public administration in modern state focusing on the citizens rights perspective. It also

includes an overview of the public administration system in Sri Lanka and a report based on asurvey conducted on the public perceptions of the public administration in Sri Lanka.

The study was conducted on the invitation of the National Democratic Institution forInternational Affairs (NDIA). Reading material was prepared and will be used for an informed

dialogue process to be organized by them on the following themes:

1. The Rights to Efficient and Effective Governance

2. The Right to Responsive Governance

3. Effective and efficient Implementation of state decisions

As the study progresses with a field survey on administrative delivery system in selectedlocations we have expanded the study adding some new aspects such as citizenship and publicadministration, the public administration system in Sri Lanka, the constitution and the public

administration in Sri Lanka. I would like to thank Mr. S. Balakrishnan of NDI for his patiencewhile I completed this complex task.

AM Navaratna-Bandara

August 2009


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1 INTRODUCTION - GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION1.1 Prelude

Governance has been defined in the social science literature as the process through which the

government conveys its laws and policy decisions to society. According to these interpretations

governance occurs in at least three broad ways: through networks involving public and private

sectors partnership; through the use of market; and through the public administration. The

present report, concerns the public administration which plays a crucial role in the process of

governance.

A wide spectrums of activities take place within the public administration when translating the

laws and policies made by the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government into

action. The public administration of a country is the business-end of government through which

the costs and benefits are measured for the efficient and effective use of public resources in

implementing the public policies and laws. It is the delivery point from which the people receive

public goods and services produced by these policies and laws.

In modern democratic governments the members of public administration are accountable to the

citizens of the country and obliged to serve them efficiently, effectively and economically with

entrepreneurial skills. This is derived from the intellectual foundation that is based on the

concept of public which represents the citizens. For its material or financial existence the

public administration depends on citizens as taxpayers (M. Shamsul Haque, Relationship

between citizenship and Public Administration: Reconfiguration, International Review of

Administrative Sciences, SAGE Publication, 1999, Vol. 65(3)309-325, p.325). The practical

obligation of the public administration is the realization of the needs and expectations of its

citizens. Hence the essence of public administration lies in the principles of citizenship. In

democratic societies, it is the unique relationship of public administration with citizens that

maintains its public identity, reinforces its legitimacy, sets its ethical standards, determines its

roles and duties and distinguishes it from business management in the private sector (Ibid.).


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The work of public administration is experienced by the thousands of people who make daily

visits to the administrative organizations of the state. Most of them are visiting these places to

receive the public goods and public services for which they have paid for through taxation.

Apart from that the citizens who participate in market activities, non-profit ventures also

experience the actions of public administrations as they have to follow the rules imposed by

these administrators. Actually the actions and non-actions by these people in the public

organizations are crucial for making things happen in government. The political leadership

through the legislature and executive institutions may pass all the laws they wish but unless

those laws are administered effectively by the public administrators little or nothing will actually

happen (B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre, Introduction: The Role of Public Administration in

Governing in B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre (eds.) Hand Book of Public Administration, SAGE,

Los Angeles, p.01).

There is a massive amount of administrative activities involved in facilitating laws (Ibid)

and policies made by politicians into action and in delivering public programmes to citizens by

the public administration. As such some have identified public administration as the executive

arm of government. The traditional approaches to public administration argued that the public

administration as the executive arm of the government had to be involved with all tasks related to

the implementation of law and public policy. These traditional approaches to public

administration also highlighted the importance of the setting of standards to the work of public

servants in order to provide equal treatment to the citizens as well as to reduce errors in

administration. This so called forward mapping approach has produced more procedures and

controls on the work of street-level administrators who are responsible for translating laws and

policies into actions. The outcome of these approaches is to anchor the public administration

with a formal organization called bureaucracy which gives first place to the centralized decision

making and top-down process of governance. As such these traditional approaches have been

criticized as rigid, inflexible, ineffective and unresponsive to the needs of citizens. In recent

years more society and citizen centered perspectives have been introduced and we are now

discerning beyond the traditional law and policy implementation perspectives.


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In the 1970s an advocacy movement calling itself New Public Administration (NPA) emerged

emphasizing the need to give more freedom to the street level administrators in making decisions

that meet the demands of the poor and minorities who were not originally accommodated in the

decisions taken at the power centers. The movement blamed the existing system for giving pre-

eminence to the well-being of the organization and not to the well-being of the people at the

receiving-end of the system.

Since the 1980s we have been experiencing another reform movement which puts emphasizes on

the management of resources, performance appraisals, responsive governance and citizen

participation. This movement is called New Public Management (NPM). It has been proposed

to restore the legitimacy and effectiveness of government. Central to the NPM is an emphasis on

performance and greater responsiveness to citizens and their needs. Hence citizenship has a pre-

eminent place in the present day administrative governance.

According to T.H. Marshal, one of the pioneers in studying the changing perspectives of

citizenship in the modern era citizenship as a status bestowed on those who are full members

of community envisages equal status for all the citizens with respect to the rights and duties

(Quoted in Ruth Lister, Citizenship: Towards a feminist synthesis, Feminist Review, No.57,

Autumn, 1997, pp.28-48, p.27). The modern citizenship envisages participation in the

government decision-making for every citizen of the country and the right to equitable access to

the services offered in government. The public administration system and its members employed

by the state, (utilizing huge chunks of the tax money collected from its citizens have a

responsibility to provide quality service to the latter.

Jane Erik-Lane, one of the authorities in the modern state management has named the modern

state as a workfare state ((Jan-Erik Lane, State Management, Routledge, London, 2009,

pp.118-121) because of the present day states involvement in vast amount of public work in

order to fulfill the social objectives. The ultimate outcome of this broadening of state activities


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is compelling the delivery centres, handled by the public administrators, to accommodate

citizens rights, good governance, human rights and human security in their work practices.

In Sri Lanka the political debate has been around the constitutional reforms since the late 1980s.

There is a tendency among the public as well as the opinion makers to equate politics with

dramatic events such as elections and conflicts between different political groupings. One of the

lacunas in these debates is the role played by the public administration in the process of

governing. The only exception was the 17th

amendment to the constitution passed in 2001 in

which an attempt was made to rescue public administration from political interference. However,

the drive towards the passing of this piece of legislation was not taken with a pro-citizenship

perspective.

At present we have 225 members in the national parliament. If all the members of other

representative institutions in the country added to this number the total does not exceed even

2000. On the other hand, in the public administration arena, more than 800,000 employees are

working for the government. The majority of them are street-level bureaucrats, meaning public

officers serving in the institutions that deliver public goods and services to the people. These

street level people are serving in the District and Divisional Secretariats, Grama Niladhari

Offices, Police Stations, Schools and Field offices of the departments belonging to the central,

provincial and local level governments.

In the Appropriation Bill (the Government Budget) presented to the Parliament in 2009 the

government has allocated Rs.66,402 million for the salaries of the employees in the General

Public Service (if we add the enrolments of employees in the Foreign Service this total goes up

to Rs.155,381 million). However, the general feeling in society is that the countrys

administrative systems is unproductive, inefficient and not up to the standards hence a burden for

the tax payer. These complaints or perceptions of the public are sometimes based on the

opinions of others or their own affective orientations which they have developed in their life time

in relation to their personal experience. Some of these weaknesses are systemic and thus related


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to the formal structures necessitated by the principles governing the modern system of

government. Some are emanating from the cultural context we all are associated with.

Therefore it is our view that the general public as the citizens of this country must be educated on

the main currents attached to the administrative process of the country as well as the historical

and international experiences related to public sector management to have an objective

assessment of these perceptions.

1.2 THE ARRANGENMENT OF THE REPORT

This report is written to facilitate a public dialogue on the rights perspectives as identified in the

previous section. The report offers information and discussions useful to the general public to

understand:

(a). the nature and scope of the public administration in the modern state, the best practices

developed in other countries for the delivery of public services and global standards adopted by

the international institutions for the public administrative system of the modern state focusing on

citizens rights

(b). the system of public administration in Sri Lanka focusing on the historical settings (inclusive

of both colonial and post-colonial experiences), the constitutional, administrative and political

framework in which the system has to operate, the issues relating to the establishment of

citizenship based governance system in Sri Lanka, and

(c). the formal and informal processes of the administrative delivery system in Sri Lanka

focusing on the field study conducted by the authors of this report as well as the related studies

recently done by others.

The report is divided into three sections. Section one presents an overview of the role of public

administration in the modern state and the recent reforms implemented in other countries which

provide best practices for delivering public services as well as the international standards related

to the public administrative systems. Section two presents an overview of the public

administrative system in Sri Lanka, and the constitutional provisions related to the public

administrative delivery system in Sri Lanka. Section three contains two chapters. The first


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chapter is based on the information gathered from the field survey conducted during July-August

2009. It focuses on the peoples perception based on their affective-orientation towards the

public administration and the formal as well as informal processes attached to the delivery

system. The last chapter surveys definitions of the thematic focuses of the report, namely,

efficiency, effectiveness, equity and responsiveness. It will lead to a discussion on the rights

perspective attached to these value outcomes.


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SECTION I


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2 ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN MODERN STATE2.1 INTRODUCTION

Administration is an activity concerned with getting things done (Luther Gullick, see M.P.

Sharma, Public Administration in Theory and Practice, Kitab Mahal, Allahabad, p.37). It is

basically an act of management that involves planning, organizing, staffing, directing,

coordinating, recording and the budgeting activities of an institution. The state institutions which

undertake these managerial activities are placed under the leadership of a political executive and

they are called public administrators.

However, the most important function assigned to the administrators in the modern government

is systematic and detailed implementation of public law and public policy as decided by a

competent authority (Leonard White, Quoted in Ibid., p.36). Since the public policy making is

targeted at public problems which are beyond the efforts of individuals in society the public

administrators, as the implementers of public policy, must fulfill the objectives of these policies

by delivering the expected goods and services to the people equally, ensuring equitable

distribution among them. In the administrative theory and practice developed with the

advancement of popular democracy it was accepted that the public administration must be

carried out by professional and politically neutral administrators. The principle of politically

neutrality was advocated on the grounds that the position of the public official should be

organized as a Public Trust and the implementation of public policy required certain

technical and business skills that should be handled without political or any other divisive

considerations. The notion of a non-political administrator later became generally accepted and

was recognized as a necessary pre-condition for the success of democratic governance. The

improvement of technical and business capacities in the public administration has been accepted

even today as the most important criterion of measuring the success of democracy as it facilitates

efficient and effective use of public resources and energies to deliver quality service to the

people.


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2.2 NATURE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Although the above managerial activities are common to the public, private and non-profit

sectors, the things to be administered by the administrative organizations of the state are different

from those of private or non-profit organizations. The task of public administration can be better

understood if we compare the nature of public and private sectors.

The administrative organizations belonging to the state have to operate within a political

environment while the organizations belonging to private sector operate within the market.

Consequently there are marked differences between the functions of the public administration

and the business administration. The administrative organizations belonging to the private sector

function with competitive partners and basically deal with the economics. On the other hand the

administrative organizations of the State are monopolistic and basically deal with politics. These

differences may be attributed to the fundamentals affixed to the State which is a political entity

and a territorially based organization that exercises the supreme authority over the individuals

and the organizations within its territory by monopolizing the use of violence. It sometimes goes

beyond the democratic norms and takes actions which may be imperative for the maintenance of

its authority in the political society. These basic political characteristics of a nation state have

not diminished in the current era though we have developed democratic norms and global

constrains to contain the repressive roles played by the state. As such, in the era of globalization

of democratic norms one of the most crucial issues related to the public administration is how we

organize the administrative system to serve public goods and promote public interest while

serving the state to impose its authority over the population.

2.3 The crucial issue areas of public sector management

Jane-Erik Lane, one of the authorities on modern public management, in his most recent analysis

of public sector management and administration argues that the modern state has become a

workfare state and the functions assigned to its administrative arm are delivering of public

services, paying for social security and respecting the rule of law(2009, p.i). He identifies the

following aspects in order to locate the crucial functional areas to be attended to by the

contemporary state administration (descriptions and the last two points are added):


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1. Imposition of public regulations - the crucial issue is how to offer efficient service to the

people while maintaining this regulatory environment;

2. Relationship between the law and the state the crucial issue is how to impose the law of

the land in the best interests of the people;

3. Combining ecology and policy-making the crucial issue is how to keep a balance

between the natural resources and the development objectives (however, the crucial issue

in the developing world is how to safeguard the integrity of an administrative system

from the forces that are inherent to the most dynamic aspects of the ecology that are

social forces which influence the system to deviate from standard practices in favour of

their vested interests);

4. Multi-level governance the crucial issue is allocation of power and resources among the

different levels of government and how to distribute the public goods and services

resulting from that allocation through the public administration reaching the remote and

marginalized corners of society;

5. Public, private and NGO partnership the crucial issue is how to persuade the private

and NGO sectors to support the government organizations in providing services which

cannot be totally handed over to the private sector or to the NGOs;

6. Policy implementation the crucial issue is how policy making would accommodate the

different interests represented in the different layers in the policy networks in society;

7. Serving the citizens the crucial issue is how to fulfill the role of government in

protecting and fulfilling citizens rights categorized into civil, political, social, economic

and cultural;

8. Protection of the human and fundamental rights of people this is the key measuring

instrument to be used in assessing each of the issue areas named above.

2.4 MAJOR ROLES TO BE PLAYED BY THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The above issues can be understood in relation to the different roles played by the public

administrative system of a country. These roles are associated with the following:

1. Enforcement of power and authority of the State it is the administrative

organization that has to impose the will of the state by implementing the laws passed


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by the state institutions using both cohesive and integrative powers, fostering the rule

of law principle.

2. Custodian of State Resources as the Custodian of State Resources the key

responsibility is to defy political and other societal pressures so as not to misuse

public resources.

3. Policy Advising the key responsibility is to help society to enlarge the existing

conceptual map for the advancement of social, economic and technological

development of the country by advising the ministers on matters relating to policy

formulation.

4. Executive Arm of the government the public administration system is the arm of the

government which implements laws passed by the legislators and execute the public

policies, programmes and plans as decided by the political executive. The key

responsibility is not just making them clearer but also to identify detailed

implementation with the technical perfection attached to the delivery of their outputs.

5. Resources management the public administration system is responsible for handling

human and material resources belonging to the State efficiently, effectively and

economically, thus the key responsibility is to economize the use of resources

focusing on cost-benefits, value of money and finally lessening the burden to the

tax-payers.

6. Service Delivery of the government it is the public administration system which

delivers public services that have social objectives and thereby cannot be

administered by the private sector. It is difficult to handle even by the organized

efforts of civil society and thus the key responsibility is to serve its citizens

responding to their demands efficiently and diligently.

7. Mediator of public interests the public administration system has to act as a go

between the state and the private and NGO sectors. In turn it must build

partnerships for delivering services required by society.

When examining the key responsibilities attached to these different roles it is not difficult to

understand the complexities surrounding the public administrative system of a country and also


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the several Principals to be served by the public administrative system. If we apply the modern

Principal-Agent approach the members of public administration system have four Principals to

serve, namely, the State, the government, society and the individual citizen. However the most

crucial question today is how does public administration get these different jobs done for these

different Principals while providing a better service to the citizen who is the most important

principal actor? In this regard we have two main perspectives to look at in the public

administration of modern government. They are the rule of law principle and the modern

conception of citizenship.

2.5 RULE OF LAW AND THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The issues of public policy and citizenship cannot be solved on the assumption that a

government exists only to serve public goods or promote public interest. Although in the

modern era the government has been functioning as an institution of policy making in order to

organize the efficient use of energies available for society, it cannot avoid the most primordial

function of the government, which is to protect and enforce the sovereignty of state. However, at

present this function is closely linked to the rule of law principle as the people have been

recognized as the source of power of the state.

Rule of law is an essential element in modern government. Constitutional democracy cannot

function properly without it. Even the regimes which do not follow democratic governance

maintain some sort of rule of law framework. There are certain rules of law requirements that

have to be followed by the public administration. These requirements restrain the activities of

public administration to a certain extent thereby making the formal structure or bureaucracy an

essential requirement for its actions.

The following are some important requirements that are to be adhered by the public

administration for the imposition of rule of law (adopted from Jane-Erik Lane, p.05):

(a). Procedural accountability: meaning that the administrative decisions must be taken in

accordance with established and known procedures; thus public administration cannot work

thorough informal organizations; it needs a formal structure and any deviation must be within the


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accountability procedures within the formal structure. The tendency to reduce the service

delivery process to rule following exercise is unavoidable.

(b). Legality: meaning that the administrative decisions must follow the law of the country that

either permits or requires the state administration to act; thus the most important aspect is law of

the country; hence Constitution and Acts of Parliament have a role to play in organizing the

services offered to the people. Any lacuna in the law might give more freedom to the

administrators to use their discretion which is a requirement for the public servants to do their

job perfectly; then the benevolence administrators are essential to offer efficient public service to

the people

(c). Complaint and redress: administrative decisions must be capable of filing a complaint,

expressing their grievances and seeking redress or compensation; thus the decisions of public

administration are subjected to the investigations and inquiries by the public bodies represented

by the people. The establishment of public complaint and redress procedures become the most

important element to be included within the work process of public administration. Institutional

mechanisms like the OMBUDSMAN, the National Human Rights Commission, the Judiciary

and administrative tribunals become essential requirements of the administrative system

(d). Inquiry and responsibility: the agents taking administrative decisions and providing public

services must accountable and responsible for their actions or non actions; thus the actions of

members of the public administration must be regulated by rules and regulations in order to

make their decisions transparent.

2.6CITIZENSHIP AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

The philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century BC stated in his Politics' that a citizen is not a

citizen because he lives in a certain place, for resident aliens and slaves share in the place

(Aristotle, Politics c340 BCC, Book III, Internet Ancient History Source Book). Rather, he went

on to say, the special characteristic of a citizen is that he shares in the administration of justice,

and in [public] offices (Ibid.). Aristotle's definition leads to the conclusion that a citizenship


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status is fully realized when the citizens become active participants of decision making in the

public service and also the recipients of social rewards deriving from that participation.

The difference between Aristotles Athenian citizenship and modern citizenship is that

modern citizenship is a universal legal entitlement of all legitimate residents of the State. At

least in theory, it transcends class and other social differentiation patterns. It offers national

identity common to all the legitimate residents of the state territory on the basis of common

citizenship. In addition it is embedded with certain political, economic, civil, social and cultural

rights. This redefinition of citizenship was not spontaneous. It occurred due to the spread of free

market, industrialization, modernity, information technology, global values of good governance

and human rights. The social movements that followed the ideological streams of liberalism and

socialism and the emergence of an international system promoting human rights also contributed

to this redefinition of citizenship.

As such the modern citizenship is closely associated with the rights of citizens. Citizenship rights

initially identified political, civil and social rights. Political rights include the right to vote and

secret ballot, right to hold positions in government etc. Civil rights include freedom of speech,

religion and assembly. Basically civil rights are meant to protect the citizens civil life from the

state power; political rights provide the citizens degree of control over the State; and social rights

are the entitlements of citizens to be protected by the government. Social rights by definition are

group rights and envisage minimum standards of health and welfare, including health and

unemployment insurance, public pensions and social services for individual citizens (see Bart

van Steenbergen, The Condition of Citizenship, SAGE Publication Ltd., London, pp.02-03).

Since social rights help to build a social life of citizens the state has to play a proactive role.

In the second part of the 20th

century economic rights were added to the citizens rights

discourse. They have created two different ways of enjoying citizens rights. Since the

delivering of economic rights is associated with the market, the citizen has to become an

economic man in order to secure his or her economic rights. On the other hand a citizen has to

become apolitical man to deal with the states obligation of civil, political and economic rights.

Although the economic man attempts to maximize his/her interest in the market the political man


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cannot maximize his/her private interest as the state is responsible for the maximization of public

interests. Thus the State has to play different roles in the two spheres.

The political and civil rights are negative rights, meaning, they seek from the state not to obstruct

the enjoyment of these rights but to respect and protect them. Contrary to that social and

economic rights are positive rights, meaning, they seek from the state to play a proactive role.

Social rights are claims of citizens from the state. In order to guarantee the economic rights the

state must facilitate the market to do the job and build partnerships with the private and the non-

profit sectors. On the other hand State should empower the citizen to deal with the market forces

and intervene in market failures.

The above examination on redefinition of citizenship in the modern era points to the fact that the

public administration, as the executive arm of the government, has a greater responsibility in

guaranteeing citizenship rights. As the citizenship rights perspective identifies the state as the

Duty-Bearer the state obligations to these rights become the moral and legal responsibilities of

the agents of state, namely, the public officers. Most of the functions related to the rule of law as

identified in the previous section such as procedural accountability, legality, complaint and

redress and Inquiry and responsibility comply with the claims of citizens to share public offices

through decision making, decision implementation and access to the services delivered by these

public offices.

The transformation in the meaning of citizenship has influenced the governing institutions to

lock it into the social fabric of the state. Consequently citizenship has became not just a bundle

of rights but a process by which citizens actually participate in governance. This participation is

essential for its citizens as the access to these rights are closely related to the bargaining

capacities of citizens. In this regard the formal arrangements in the governing process for

citizens to participate in the decision-making, decision-implementation and receiving goods and

services plays a crucial role. The formal arrangements are included in the constitutional provisions, administrative regulatory arrangements and the capacities provided for the

administrative organization.


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Finally the public administration acting as the linkage point between the state and citizens as its

members cannot just rely on the formal system to do their job. They must assist the people to

achieve full citizenship by becoming an active partner in government as concerned and informed

citizens. This cannot be done unless they are ready to protect the peoples right to efficient,

effective and equitable governance. It is a proven fact that the street-level administrators have

certain discretion to re-interpret and reinvent the policies when they attend to the day to day

activities. Hence the culture of administrators, i.e. their attitudes, mindsets and commitment can

also play a role in shaping the way they implement the policies of government and the delivery

of services to the citizens.

The general acceptance in the recent discourses on the role of public administration is that when

facilitating the citizens participation in the affairs of government, the public administration must

accommodate such values as integrity, transparency and accountability in delivering services to

the people (Elia Armstrong, Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in Public

Administration: Recent Trends, Regional and International Development and Emerging Issues,

United Nations, 2005, p.01). Here integrity refers to honesty, trustworthiness in the discharge

of official duties. They work against corruption and the abuse of office; transparency refers to

free access by the citizens to timely and reliable information on decisions taken and services

available in the administrative institution and the performance in the public sector; accountability

refers to the obligations on the part of public officials to report on the usage of public resources

and answerability for failing to meet stated performance objectives (Ibid.).

This discussion has identified the crucial areas to be considered when discussing the rights

issues in relation to the public administration. In the next chapter we will be examining the

international standards and best practices in other countries with a particular focus on New

Public Management methods adopted.


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3 - BEST DELIVERY PRACTICES IN OTHER COUNTRUES

3.1 INTRODUCTION

In recent years many countries around the globe have attempted at reforms to improve the

service delivery and management performance in the public sector. These reforms were aimed at

the establishment of administrative service which cost less for the citizens and served them better

with business type management practices. The trend was to adopt as far as possible private sector

management practices to produce a customer friendly service delivery system as well as to focus

on a value for money concept.

The most publicized recent reform process is called New Public Management (NPM). These

reforms started in Britain and the United States in the 1980s and later moved to other countries.

NPM comes with a wide range of reforms from which the public service may choose to reduce

bureaucracy. The main elements of NPM are geared towards restructuring the public sector in

order to introduce competition, better financial management and performance evaluation based

on a service delivery system. The objective is to produce smaller faster-moving service delivery

organizations that would prosper by the pressure of competition. But their survival would not

only depend on their financial and managerial performances but also on the user responsiveness

too. When the Information Technology Revolution emerged, these public service reforms were

incorporated into a new dimension called E-Governance. This has created proactive governance

which attempts to allow citizens access to public service through electronic means.

The United Nations Organization is also involved in helping its members to improve the delivery

of services to the people. The United Nations established a Public Administration Network

Mission to promote the sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices throughout theworld in sound public policies, effective public administration and efficient civil services. After

evaluating the recent reforms in the Commonwealth Countries one scholar has identified eight

subjects that can lead to better public service in the world, namely:

(1). Restructuring of the public service


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(2). Reexamining the political/administrative interface

(3). Maintaining high ethical standards and an intolerance for corruption

(4). Reviewing the role and responsibilities of Public Service Commissions

(5). Consideration of the value and impact of performance standards

(6). Exploring the contribution of partnerships, not just with the private sector but beyond

(7). Maintaining high quality services and,

(8). Proposal to develop an index of public sector competence (A.S. bin Abdul Ahmad, Best

Practices in Public Administration: Experiences from Commonwealth Countries in Mazlin

Ahmad (ed.), Public Service Management: Achieving Quality Service in the 21st

Century,

National Institute of Public Administration, Public Service Department, Malaysia, 1998, p.2

(pp.2-10) .

These reforms formulas are followed by many countries and have introduced some good

practices from which we can learn from. We will get a better understanding of the public service

reforms and the necessary best practices that need to be adopted for the improvement of a public

service delivery system in Sri Lanka.

3.2 REFORMS AND BEST PRACTICES IN OTHER COUNTRIES

3.2.1 The NPM based reforms

The NPM based Civil service reforms prevailed in the 1980s in advanced capitalists democracies

as a responce to the poor performance of civil service evident in expanded government size, over

expenditure in wage bills, unaccountability of civil servants etc. The main concern of civil

service reform programmes (administered by these countries) was to deal with the heavy

financial burden created by the public service system, which was identified as one of the major

weaknesses of the public service. The failure to deliver expected policy outcomes compelled the

policy makers in these societies to focus on the public sector expenditure from the point of view

of Value for Money (VFM).

The idea of reinventing government emerged in the 1980s focusing weak concern on the public

sector expenditure. As the liberalization of economies activated the market and the private


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sector brought new management practices producing wider space for the domestic economies

,the public sector had to rethink the centuries old bureaucratic practices which did not match

with the new economic drive in the country. In this context the public sector expenditures had

been identified as a burden to the people. In practice, this led to a re-examination of the

performance of public sector using the criterion used by the private sector and an introduction of

reforms attempting to reduce the cost of the civil service by reducing the size of its civil service.

On the one hand this facilitated the introduction of decentralized budgetary management systems

and citizen/customer/client focused practices following market methods on the other.

The NPM reform is a process which is still spreading all over the world. It is a new pattern of

governance associated with the use of a wide range of different tools and with a reliance on

third parties to manage and deliver government services. It first originated in western countries

and gradually spread to non western countries. The NPM reforms have been far-reaching and

have been sighted as one of the most important developments in western governments especially

in the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), like

Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom. NPM is often seen as public sector reforms that

are motivated by public hostility to government, shrinking budgets, and the imperatives of

globalization. It was seen as an Anglo Saxon phenomenon because the early reformers were

Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia and to some extent the USA. However, during the 1980s

and the 1990s the NPM reforms were carried out, on an almost global scale.

3.2.2 The reforms in the United Kingdom

The reforms made in UK during the government of Margret Thatcher were initially identified as

an effort to reduce the expenditure of the public sector. The government commenced the reform

programme claiming that the public servants were enjoying a privileged status and earning good

money without much labour as there were no performance based pay system in the government.

The government announced that it was interested in changing the managerial style of the public

service to make the system more competitive and citizen friendly.

The reform process was based on the conception that the administrative man in the public

organizations like his counterpart - the economic man in the market makes attempt to maximize


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his self-interest such as wealth, status, prestige and comfort. Hence the public interest based old

organizations had to adopt new management principles such as performance based pay,

decentralized budgets, customer satisfaction and market methods. Finally it facilitated a

fundamental change in the management culture and restructuring of the administrative system

that existed since the 19th

century.

First the government sent the public servants who where involved in delivering services into

smaller service delivery centres called Executive Agencies. The Senior Managers had to become

the policy making core of the ministries, and the Agency Heads who were recruited through

competition from the Senior Managers of the public and private sectors, had to sign contracts

with the ministries to full their demands. As such the Senior Public Servants who were working

with the ministers to formulate public policy were now responsible for dealing with Executive

Agencies which accept the supply side of the government and the direct demands coming from

the public.

These new service delivery centres the Executive Agencies, whose main function is to undertake

the services assigned to them under these profitable contracts, act effectively as private firms.

The Executive Agencies have now become firms within the government undertaking public

service delivery as business activities undertaken for profit. The citizens pay directly to get the

services provided. However, it was the government that undertook to the use payment on behalf

of the citizens. Finally the British Government managed to reduce its workforce by nearly 40%

and save millions of pounds by eliminating many procedures which cost more for the

government to purchase than it required. The government budgetary expenditure was reduced

drastically as the Executive Agencies were now functioning as income driven and cost-

recovery institutions. The government too became customers of these institutions.

One of the social outcomes of the NPM process was the introduction of a Citizen Charters. The

term Citizen in the Citizens Charter implies the clients or customers whose interests and

values are addressed by the Citizens Charter and, therefore, includes not only the citizens but

also all the stakeholders. The Citizens Charter is a bond of honor between the public service

and citizens, and safeguards the right of citizens to enjoy quality and high-standard services. At

the same time it gives satisfaction to public servants for the services they provide to the public.


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The Citizens Charter is not legally enforceable. However, it is a tool for facilitating the delivery

of services to citizens with specified standards. The main objective of the Citizen's Charter is to

improve the quality of its public services. On the basis of the Citizens Charter, public services

are obliged:

to inform the public in detail on the kind of services they provide

to define and publicize standards of services

to be easily accessible and friendly to the citizen and to provide adequate information

to explain the options afforded and give correct advice to the public

to be courteous and forthcoming in providing services and to rectify mistakes

The Citizens Charter is not a document which contains only theoretical and general principles

and aims. On the contrary, it contains specific provisions and sets out specific obligations for the

public services, e.g. the period of time within which the department has the obligation to reply,

the type of information to be given etc. A Citizens' Charter represents the commitment of the

organization towards a certain standard, quality and specified time frame of service delivery,

grievance redress mechanism, transparency and accountability.

3.2.3 The reforms in other countries

In the USA the NPM based public service reforms started under Ronald Reagan. However, most

recent changes took place under Bill Clinton. His Vice President Al Gore, led a National

Performance Review (NPR) and devised the public sector reform programme called Re-

Inventing Government. This reform focused on the reduction of procedural delays and the

enormous costs involved with these slow processes especially in the procurement processes. It

enabled the public sector managers to focus on decentralized budgets and run their programmes

profitably using user payments and contracted jobs allocated through the Federal Government

Budgets.

New Zealand has introduced a home grown reform programme to improve civil service

performance. Apart from this civil service reform being seen as a tool for curbing government

spending through personnel and wage cuts, it also included the creation of a skilled and efficient

government workforce. Cost containment is an important aspect of NPM reform, but there are


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other equally important aspects. An efficient and motivated civil service has been identified as

critical for governance, production and distribution of public goods and services. It is also

recognized as the effective tool for the formulation and implementation of economic policy, and

management of public expenditure. The broader aim of civil service reform based on NPM was

therefore, the creation of a small size government workforce with the skills, incentives, ethos,

and accountability needed to provide quality public services and carry out functions assigned to

the state (World Bank & International Monetary Fund, Reforming The Civil Service, Finance

And Development, 1996, Vol. 33, No 3 Pp 10-13).

In some countries civil service reforms contributed to microeconomic stability through

supporting the downsizing of programmes which reduce the size and cost of civil service to an

affordable and sustainable level. Reducing the size of the civil service is often a prerequisite for

ensuring that governments can sustain and finance a smaller and better-paid civil service over

time (World Bank & International Money Fund, Civil Service Reform in Africa, Mixed results

after 10 Years.Finance and Development, 1998, Vol. 35, No 2, pp. 10-13). However, although

the civil service reforms have been applied and implemented in different countries, the reforms

have always being complex, mixed up with various institutional challenges that required time to

accomplish. Civil service reforms are difficult to implement since they often involve rearranging

difficult human configurations and changing human behavior (Olsen, J. P., Petrs B.G., 1996,

Lesson From Experience: Experiential Learning In Administrative Reforms in Eight

Democracies, Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, p. 12). Current civil service reforms are

usually incoperated closely with administrative reforms that rearrange the focus of the state and

government. This enables a more lean and strategic role through the strengthening of institutions

and processes to perform core state functions. The administrative systems are expected to

develop fewer layers and devolve operational authority to front-line managers. With a

downsized staff, many services may leave to be contracted out for efficient service delivery.

3.3COMPONENTS OF GOVERNMENT REFORMS IN THE RECENT YEARS AN

OVER VIEW


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One scholar has identified three major focuses in the government reforms which have taken

place in the recent past, namely, (1).Less costing government (2).Professional government and

(3).E-government (A.L. Verma, Public Administration, Lotus Press, New Delhi, 2006, p.238).

Next we survey the administrative measures implemented in other countries under these

headings (the information provided below under these themes are from the same author, pp. 238-

258).

3.3.1 Less Costing Government

The less costing government became one of the prime focuses of the recent public sector reforms

in the world. This was associated with the introduction of strong financial controls and effective

budgetary processes into the public sector. These measures were linked to the highly publicized

campaigns aimed at the introduction of productivity as a concept relevant to government

expenditures. The governments adopted several interrelated strategies to enhance productivity in

the public sector. They included components such as cost accounting, performance based

budgeting, flexibility among budget accounts and promoting productivity.

In New Zealand the government services are arranged to compete for budgets on the basis of

their goal achievements. The public sector institutions were given clear-cut performance goals.

These institutions had to sign written contracts to achieve goals associated with the

implementation of each of the programmes. Singapore is a good example of innovations that

were promote productivity and make government cost less. The government of Singapore has

built their attempts to manage costs around four concepts Limit Damage (waste), Maximize

Discretion (of the administrators involving procurement), Measure Costs (with the outputs) and

Pursue Excellence (in the service delivery). France passed the constitutional bylaw and the

Budget Act focusing on the productivity and the reduction of costs in the government in 2001.

The USA passed the Government Performance and Results Act in 1993 to improve the

performance of government officials. The Canadian Federal Government successfully overcame

the budget deficit that accounted for 8.5% of Gross Domestic Product in 1995. In Chile the

Inter-Municipal Environmental Programme joined with smaller municipalities to reduce the cost

of training the officials, strengthen the environmental management and implement a common


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programme for several municipalities. In Italy services centres called one-step-shops were

established in order to provide several services required to start a new business. The Mexican

Government has established more than 650 federal government work centres with the ISO

9000 standards up to 2006. In Australia major reorganization took place for the inclusion of

customer culture into the social service programmes.

3.3.2 Professional Government

The notion of an effective state depends on an effective public sector. This became the important

issue in many countries. The ineffective public sector is associated with the following problems:

(a). The public sector had difficulty in recruiting talented persons as it could not compete

with the private sector or with NGOs

(b). The public sector faced severe skill shortage and lack of funding to train its

workforce

(c). Public sector employees faced severe wage compression and this influenced talented

executives to leave the public service

(d). Public sector suffered from excessive political patronage causing the government to

employ large numbers of employees without much work for them to do

(e). Public sector officials do not always work under the rule of law

A major study conducted by the International Monetary Fund found a clear-cut relationship

between public sector salaries and the level of corruption in a country. The study estimated that

wages in the government relative to the salaries in the manufacturing sector needed to be

increased by 2.8-7.4% to eliminate corruption in the public sector. However money is not the

only contributory factor in the creation of a corrupt public service. The adherence to the rule of

law by the public service has been identified as one of the factors that contribute to the public

sector corruption. It is a well known fact that in the countries where the rule of law is not well

established the public service does not undertake their job according the law.


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Singapore is one of the countries which increased its salaries to control corruption. The

Singapore government successfully eliminated the wage disparity between public and private

sectors. Under Margret Thatcher the United Kingdom experienced similar reforms when the

Executive Agencies were established to deliver services to the public. The personnel in these

agencies were offered (through service contracts) increased monetary benefits including large

bonuses depending on their performance. In 1999 South Korea introduced a public service

reform programme called Open Competitive Position System designed to recruit outstanding

talent from both the public and private sectors. Presently nearly 20% of the positions in the civil

service in every ministry are positions open to this competitive scheme.

3.3.3 E-GovernmentA recent UN study noted that 89% of the world governments were using the internet in some

capacity to provide information and/or services despite the fact that not all citizens are exposed

to the internet. The states using the internet have been categorized into three groups. The first

group included the governments using internet sites to offer political information about the

leadership of the country. The second group uses the internet to attract non-citizens to invest in

the country. The third group is called interactive. They offer citizens services through the

internet by allowing them to download forms and request information from the government. The

third categories of countries are the states that have adopted IT to reduce costs and increase the

quality of services offered to citizens. Singapore is the pioneer in establishing E-Citizen Portal

as a single gateway to government service. The Canadian government is the world leader in

interactive government. It increased its citizens input and official decision making using E-

Government.


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SECTION - 2


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4 - THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM IN SRI LANKA AN OVERVIEW

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter surveys the origins and the development of public administration in Sri Lanka. The

discussion below focuses on the legacies of colonial bureaucracy, failure to establish

development oriented administration, the politicization of bureaucracy and the challenges faced

by the present day public administration.

4.2 THE COLONIAL BUREAUCRACY

4.2.1 The ideological and organizational framework

A modern version of an administrative system was introduced to Sri Lanka during the British

Colonial rule that existed for nearly one and a half centuries. The policy changes were

introduced by Colebrook-Cameron Commissions that came to the country in 1829 though the

colony was under an administrative institution headed by a Governor. The Commissioners were

under the influence of the 19th

century liberalism that stressed the values of free-trade and were

laissez-faire in preparing their recommendations.

Since the recommendations of these commissions were aimed at the introduction of a free market

the colony was gradually transformed into, what is called, a Colonial State which was

established to facilitate the extraction of a surplus free-market economy through profits for the

benefit of Great Britain. This facilitated the demarcation between state and government. The

establishment of Legislative and Executive Councils and the establishment of independent

Judiciary took place in 1833.

Transforming the administrative system of the government from aristocracy to bureaucracy

was also took place during this era. The selection of administrators through patronage was

abandoned gradually. In the 1870s steps were taken to establish an administrative system led by

an administrative leadership selected through competitive examinations conducted following the

guidelines of the Civil Service Commission of Great Britain. This was necessitated by the


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political transformations that were taking place in Britain in the direction of democratic

governance.

Nevertheless the executive machinery and the process of governance in the colonial state were in

the hands of administrators. Therefore the colonial state was basically an Administrative State

until 1931 when the British government allowed the indigenous leaders to take part in social

welfare policy making and take a lead part in the administrative system through limited self-rule.

This transformation required the demarcation between politics and administration as the

independence of public service became an important requirement.

The state administrative system of the Colonial State was based on a rigid regulatory system that

aimed at controlling both public servants and the people. The standard civil service codes were

introduced in order to make the public officers work as servants to the crown. At the same time

it was used to keep strategic control of the machinery of government in the hands of the

European officers. The main functions of the administrative organization were the handling of

law and order and the collection of state revenue through taxation.

Although the colonial administrators (as servants to the crown) were required to protect the

imperial interests there were specific instructions to adopt benevolent paternalism when

approaching the ordinary masses. At least once a week the administrators were obliged to visit

the villages and towns to see for themselves the problems faced by the ordinary people. During

their visits they were advised to see the availability of basic necessities such as water, sanitation,

agricultural requirements and essential food items to the villagers. The executive authority of the

colonial state was highly centralized under the leadership of the Governor whose office

functioned as the Central Coordinating Secretariat of the government. The Colonial Secretary

functioned as the chief of the administrative system and the executive functions of the

government were subdivided into departments.

The Local Administration had features similar to the Prefectural system in France. Like the

Prefects in France, the Government Agents who led the highly centralized provincial

administrative system located in the Kachcheriya had military, police, administrative and fiscal


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authority to administer the Province as the agents of State and government. It is not an

exaggeration to say that the backbone of the colonial state was the Government Agents

provincial administration which was a hierarchically arranged structure in order to maintain the

centralized authority of the colonial government.

The Kachcheri system began between 1796 and 1798 when a Resident Superintendent of

Revenue was appointed, one for Jaffna and Mannar, one for Colombo & Galle and the other for

Trincomalee and Batticaloa. In 1833 the entire country was divided into five Provinces, each

was placed under a Government Agent (GA). The GA was the revenue officer. Because of this

he was responsible to the Revenue Department. With the increase of govt. functions GAs

became the governments general agents in the field. Consequently the line of authority was

changed. The Colonial Secretary became the head of the system. The GAs had to work with him

to implement general orders of the government and the decisions were taken by the colonial

Secretary. The indigenous hierarchy of officials extended down to villages with the Village

Headman system supervised by the GA.

The term Kachcheri (the building where the office of the GA was situated) came into being to

identify the GAs administration. The Kachcheri, (set up by the Madras tax collectors who were

in Sri Lanka between 1796-98) was the office established in nine areas besides Colombo. By

1928 this de-concentrated administrative structure (i.e. an administrative system decentralized

from the centre but re-centralized at the local level) consisted of nine provinces and nineteen

districts, 110 Chief Headmens divisions, 613 sub-divisions under headmen, and about 4000

villages under Village Headmen. Although the Government Agent was primarily a revenue

collector, a great variety of functions came were exercised by him (he became jack of all

trades).

During the colonial period the Government Agents looked after whole aspects of the lives of theordinary masses. The second Governor of the island, Thomas Maitland assigned the following

functions to them:

1. circuit visits to the whole of his province

2. exercise judicial power during those visits to resolve petty disputes


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3. make arrangements to guarantee the supply of necessities such as seed,

grain, clothing and agricultural tools to the villagers

4. relieving villagers from the vexation of the Tax Gatherer

Leonard Woolf who wrote Village of Jungle in his Diaries in Ceylon 1908-11 gave us a fair

idea about the functions of a GA. He identified the following functions:

1. Inspecting towns with Sanitary Inspectors

2. Inspecting Hospitals

3. Visiting villages with the Mudlyars to hold inquires on village disputes that came to

his office

4. Inspecting bridges and roads

5. Inspecting schools

6. Investigating murder cases reported to him

As shown in the above descriptions the GA performed a combination of legislative, executive

and judicial functions. In addition to those duties he was expected to give his recommendations

at the Conference of Government Agents. The Police ordinance recognized the GA as the Head

of Police service in the province. In addition the GA was given control over the inferior

departments in his province. In the final analysis the GA became the representative of the

Central Government responsible for promoting the general interests of his province. According

to the Civil Service Manual the tasks expected of him were practically unlimited. They

comprised of the obligation of being fully acquainted with all the systems of agriculture and

industrious pursuits and all the relations of on going trade being carried out.

Later the government departments also established field administrative units at the provincial

level. The Departments of Surveyor Generals, Public Works, and Irrigation were the earliest

departments that came to the provinces. The technical departments and the departments whichhad more day to day administrative works at the local level established direct control over their

field administration. This created a parallel organization of departmental field units functioning

alongside with the Kachcheriya.


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4.2.2 Transition from Colonial Bureaucracy to politically neutral Bureaucracy 1931-48

With the Donoughmore Constitution of 1931 the Colonial Bureaucracy faced the challenge of

transforming itself to a politically neutral Bureaucracy led by the politicians elected by the

people. The new constitution granted universal franchise and enabled the Ceylonese politicians

to take over 07 Executive Departments (Ministries). These measures had a significant impact

upon the structure and style of functioning of the bureaucracy.

The introduction of universal franchise completely transformed the character of the political

institutions. The political institutions were now under compulsion to be sensitive and responsive

to the needs of ordinary people though the system provided a limited self rule. The bureaucracy

was now made accountable to political power emanating from the people. Now it had to shift

from the colonial concern of law & order and revenue collection to universal welfare. The

establishment of the difference between politics and administration became extremely important

in order to distinguish imperial interests and the local concerns, and also to enable the smooth

functioning of procedural standards and technical requisites.

For the first time the demarcation between politics and administration became a necessity. The

Constitution created a Public Service Commission (PSC) as an advisory body which advised the

Governor who used the powers entrusted to him in the past constitutional practice on

appointment, promotion, transfer, dismissal and disciplinary control of public officers. However,

the bureaucratic transition was not properly addressed as the politicians were interested in

Ceylonization of Civil Service and consolidating the newly gained power by distributing the

spoils among their personal and political friends. This created the political practice of abuse of

power enabling people loyal to them to get positions, be granted allocations and other fringe

benefits which came from public office.

4.3THE NATIONAL BUREAUCRACY

The constitutional order facilitated by the granting of independence in 1948 required a national

bureaucracy which was to be the executive arm of the government dealing with twin challenges

faced by the new state, namely, nation building and development. The first constitution provided


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constitutional protection to the public service by establishing an independent Public Service

Commission, which was also identified as a measure of minority protection against the abuse of

recruitment process in favour of majority community. However at independence the public

service was still living with the legacies of colonialism. It was still within the mindset of law

and order maintenance administration of the colonial state.

As stated earlier the transition from Colonial Bureaucracy to National Bureaucracy was not

properly addressed by the national leadership during 1931-1948. However, the common class

and elite outlook shared by both the political and the administrative leaders and, the continuation

of most of the public policy strategies established during the colonial period had facilitated a

good working relationship between the politicians and the administrators. But this tranquility did

not last long.

With the change of governing regime and the introduction of somewhat radical policy changes

in 1956 the country drifted towards a period in which tension between the political leadership

and the administrative leadership became a visible feature. The tension between the

administrative and the political leaders produced a conflict between new political leaders and the

leaders of the administrative state. The allegation of non-corporation by the administrative

leadership was leveled against the public servants by the political leaders. The constitutional

protection provided for the administrators were identified as one of the obstacles for the political

leaders to fulfill peoples aspirations.

The final onslaught was the abolition of constitutional protections in the constitution against

politicization when the new Constitution was adopted in 1972. However, several actions were

initiated some eight years ago in order to facilitate the measures that consolidated the political

power over the public administration. In 1963 the government abolished the Ceylon Civil

Service, (the administrative class that led the colonial state which was based on meritocracy and

the Village Headman System which was based on aristocracy) and replaced them with a CeylonAdministrative Service (now Sri Lanka Administrative Services) and Grama Sevaka Service

(now Grama Niladhari Service). Though the abolition of these services was used to to get rid of

an outdated Brahmin Class the changeover helped the politicians appoint political favorites

overlooking seniority and a persons ability.. In 1970 the establishment of the Department of


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Public Administration further strengthened the politicians grip on the administrative system as

the country was moving towards the centralization of political as well as economic power.

The First Republican Constitution abolished the Public Service Commission (PSC) established in

1948 and handed over the powers of the public service to the Cabinet of Ministers which

received the constitutional protection under Parliamentary sovereignty, entrenched in the new

Republican Constitutions. The New constitution established the Public Service Advisory Board

and the Public Service Disciplinary Board to replace the PSC. In 1973 the Political Authority

System and the Decentralized Budget for District Development was inaugurated enabling the

formation of a district political leadership over local administration in Sri Lanka. The

constitution of 1978 crowned the political centralization process by establishing an Executive

Presidency and its leadership in the system of governance. The new system established the

Presidential leadership over the administration. Consequently appointment of leaders of the

administrative system became the constitutional function of the President who now appoints the

Secretary to the President, the Secretary to the Cabinet, Secretaries of the Ministries and Chief

Secretaries of the Provincial Councils.

4.4 THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE AND THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Though the post-independent constitution changes targeted the public administration envisaging

greater political control over the bureaucracy, these changes did not address the real issues

confronted by the administrative system. The post-colonial state was to take up nation building

and national development as its key objectives while the public administrative system needed

certain technical and cultural capacities to undertake the tasks associated with these twin

objectives. One such need was to move from a procedural oriented centralized administrative

system to a development oriented decentralized administrative system. Though the requirement

was to establish a development administration which means development of administration

and administration of development the system veered towards the politicization ofbureaucracy.

The second Republican Constitution continued the process of politicization of bureaucracy and it

reached its height under the Presidential system. The politicians engaged in administrative


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business and administrators doing political business became the hallmark of governance process.

The final outcome is the creation of an administrator subservient to the politicians in power.

This has created a bureaucratic imbalance i.e. the administrators failing to stand between the

positions of despot and subservient.

The establishment of Provincial Councils in 1978 created an Inter-mix of administrative

delivery system. The establishment of three tiers of governance, namely, Central, Provincial &

Local governments have changed the administrative landscape at the Provincial, District and

Divisional Level. The practice of both administrative de-concentration and devolution was

witnessed by the people. However, Sri Lanka has a long way to go to achieve real benefits of

multilevel governance in terms of efficiency, cost effectiveness and citizens satisfaction. A

criteria need to be developed to assess the performance of these changes using conceptual

frameworks such as centralization and decentralization continuum; politicization of

bureaucracy, imbalance in resources transfer and stability, allocation and distribution

functions.

4.5 REFORMING THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

In the 1990s management efficiency and the productivity of the administrative organization came

to the forefront. The less-government idea promoted by the liberalization of economy and the

donor pressure has made these aspects urgent considerations of the policy makers and the

administrators.

Several attempts were made in the recent past to this effect. An Administrative Reform

Committee was appointed in the early 1980s. An Administrative Task Force was established by

the Presidential Secretariat and a Minister for Administrative Reform was appointed during

1995-2002. After 2002 the Prime Ministers Office took up the responsibility of creating a

management oriented administrative culture. Within the public administration E-governance

became a catch word among the administrators. Some departments and ministries have

computerized public information system to expedite the service delivery. As a result services

such as the issuance of birth certificates, National Identity Cards, Driving Licenses and Passports

have been expedited. The department of examination releases results of the public examinations


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through the internet. The use of the internet by the many ministries has been used mainly to

provide information on programmes undertaken by the government. It seems these information

systems have been used to attract non-citizens who are interested in investing in the country.

However the public administrative system has a long way to go in helping the citizens have

responsive governance through the use of the internet. The low rate internet usage by the people

could be identified as one of the contributor factors for non-availability of a fully developed

proactive governance in Sri Lanka. In 2007 HE the President has announced the establishment

of the Council for Administrative Reform.

The proposals such as the establishment of a Senior Management Service and a Management

Assistance Service, the introduction of Flexi Hours, A Citizens Charters and Staff redundancy

schemes were included in the reform agenda. However, the establishment of a Senior

Management service was abandoned during the time of President Chandirka Bandaranaike as

there were political pressures for appointing favorites. The establishment of a Management

Assistant Service, accommodating all clerical, steno and office assistant services is still

continuing but the senior members of these services have not shown any enthusiasm and in this

respect the Trade Unions have reservations. The whole process lacked the commitment from the

political leadership. Although there were projects funded by the World Bank and other donor

agencies to inculcate culture favorable to e-governance these activities did not lead to

comprehensive changes due to lack of continued commitment from the political leadership.

Consequently these programmes have become spare time work for the senior managers in their

internal organizations. However, the most important issues to be addressed by the public

administration in Sri Lank today, are the high levels of administrative corruption, low

productivity and the prevalence of politicized culture among the administrative personnel.


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5 - THE CONSTITUTION AND THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN SRI LANKA

5.1 INTRODUCTION

The present constitution consists of several legal directives for the public administration. The

most important of them are the articles that elucidate the nature of state, the source of state

power, principles of state policy, fundamental rights, public finance, exercise of executive power

and the conditions applying to the public officers.

Many of these constitutional directives are related to the process of centralization of political

power that is associated with the state craft strategy followed by the makers of the constitutions

of 1972 and 1978. The centralization of political power became a popular attraction in the 1970s

as the people were interested in decolonizing polity and moving towards rapid economic

development and a socialist democracy. Consequently the constitutional arrangements

necessitated for the strengthening of fundamental principles such as political neutrality of public

administration and independence of judiciary were diluted to suit the political power objectives.

The following is a brief survey of these important constitutional provisions and their implications

on the public administration.

5.2 THE NATURE OF STATE AND SOURCE OF STATE POWER

The first three Articles of the Constitution stipulate the nature of State, the source of State power

and the sovereignty of State. Article one declares that Sri Lanka is a Free, Sovereign and

Independent Republic and Article two pronounces that the Republic of Sri Lanka is a unitary

state. These provisions later became the sacred principles to be followed by the members of the

public service. In 1983 the Parliament approved the sixth amendment to the constitution and

made it compulsory for the public employees taking an oath, promising that they will not

directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or

advocate the establishment of a separate state within the territory of Sri Lanka. As such the


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public officers must not just show their allegiance to the state but also to its territorial integrity

and unitary nature. Accordingly a public officer will lose his/her employment if proved guilty

for abetting or associating secessionism.

The most important implication of this constitutional requirement is keeping the public servants

inside the bureaucratic maze inherited from the colonial state. The Financial and Administrative

regulations introduced during the colonial period were continuously followed by the public

administration. This has been the feature even in the administrative organs belonging to the

devolved system of governance today. Though the country has been experiencing multi-level

governance for more than two decades it has become a daunting task to change from imposing

rule to a customer driven service delivery approach.

5.3 SOVEREIGNTY OF PEOPLE

Article 3 of the constitution declares that In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the

People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights

and the franchise.

As such Article 3 of the constitution unfolds and broadens the content of sovereignty declaring

that powers of government, fundamental rights and franchise are the means of exercising

sovereignty by the people. This interpretation has far reaching consequences as Article 83 states

that approval by two thirds of Members of Parliament and the approval by the people at

Referendum is required to pass any legislation affecting or amending the particular Article.

The most fundamental implication is that the constitution empowers the people to participate

directly in the legislative process through referendum. These constitutional provisions have

become the protective of peoples right to exercise franchise at elections to be held in six years

time and enjoy fundamental rights declared in the constitution and interpreted by the Supreme

Court. The referendum clause has made transparency as an important element in governance as

the actions of the executive and legislature is subjected to review by the people at open platforms


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during the process of referendu

Right to Efficient,Effcetive and Responsive Governance-English

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