Our media is so full of plans for here there and everywhere. However the reality is just so far off their commencement, let alone fulfillment. If only 10% of the ideas and plans are implemented we will notice change. While it is not specifically the fault of the leadership who should be credited for at least coming up with the ideas for improvement, the bureaucrats who are tasked with implementing are so resistant to doing any more work than they are used to. We have to now get to that level of state sector officer and impress on them their stake in development and hold them accountable too for progress in implementation.
One is so full of anecdotes these days, as there are so many business people who are very enthusiastic to get a project started, and when they leave the office of the Minister are so glad that he is also on their side, trying his utmost to help them start their project as soon as possible. Then when it comes to meeting the Ministry officials to get all the permits and permission and go through the red tape, they are just stubborn, slow, and corrupt. If the principals rat on this to the Ministers, then these bureaucrats become even more defiant refusing to perform the necessary tasks. The Investor or entrepreneur is at a loss, as to how to proceed and in most cases gets disgusted and gives up.
The leaders have the power to cut to the chase and strangle the miscreants, and if some heads roll, others will get the message. This is an example of the arms of government being the resistance and the sooner there is less government the better it would be for growth. An overweight bureaucracy is so stifling, that we ought to make this the case for their retrenchment; namely that they are a severe obstacle.
Once the impediments to Implementation are cleared, then the tasks should be delegated and followed up by those with the appropriate skills, and the Minister to be held ultimately responsible for completion, who will only be permitted to take credit once it is completed on time. It would be nice if there are completion dates assigned to these tasks by which progress can be measured.
I am upbeat that given a good plan of action, we will be able to achieve some of the objectives that are being set. A culture of accountability, pride in performance and completion, along with incentives for early fulfillment will accelerate these plans. The inclusion of all the stakeholders into the action plan will help to give ownership of the project to all parties, so that the eventual product will be appreciated, and maintained, something which is absent when stakeholders are not involved in the implementation, and who therefore don’t have pride in ownership.
The pepper conundrum – a farmers rant
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May 24 (DN) Seventy percent of youth prefer jobs in the State sector, Colombo University Senior Professor of Sociology Prof Siri Hettige, citing a survey said. Only 18 percent preferred private sector jobs while 50 percent youth wanted to migrate.
Yes I saw this news item too and it was the headlines in the paper and that from a Govt. newspaper.
Have you seen the irony in it? While govt. jobs, safe, pensionable, well paying? and overseas jobs, a lot more risk involved, though still well paying!!
Private sector too risky and low paying and people can be fired!! and they have to put up with dictats of Colombo school managers who the workers detest!
Like I have been saying all along, how can we in the private sector compete with a soldier with no education required, earning Rs30K plus food and accommodation for holding a rifle. That too is considered a job in the state sector.
The results are not at all surprising, and both sectors need to get together to address this so more people will want to join the private sector, as the engine of growth in any economy, as otherwise there is no chance in achieving the growth targets by holding a gun in one hand and a stop sign in the other stopping private sector workers from doing their jobs productively.
I have the solution, read blog entries and will also write one devoted to just this topic when I have time.
Just to add another anecdote, one of my Ratmale neighbors, a lad of 22, left a high paying job at Kinju Restaurant which included tips, in Colombo, as soon as his application for a job at the Minneriya National Park came through. The former full of stress and put with rich prima donna customers and the bosses tantrums, while the latter lazy easy, and unproductive!! showing some visitors, the sights in the park and getting a tip as well!
Added to this and most important his marriageability to a better (dowry/ status ) candidate is also enhanced, a very important factor for youth.
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