Friday, December 7, 2012

A “POLICY” for everything! – Now a request for a National Film Policy



I went to Parliament yesterday to listen to 'the Budget Debate – Committee Stage on the allocations for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and the Ministry of Sports' and I heard the discussions on the impending Policies expected in the coming year. A National Youth Policy, A National Sports Policy, and a National Education Policy. When I opened the papers today, there was the request for a National Film Policy too!

Now what is all this about? The need for a policy framework on these major issues and I would personally add a long awaited one A National Agricultural Policy to that. This is so that there is focus in determining how a government should direct spending. NOT HOW THE GOVT SHOULD SPEND. It should be a policy framework that informs the people of the Country, of the policy the country is following at present, with periodic status reports on implementation.

Unfortunately like everything in Govt. a politician will take credit for the formulation of a policy and then refer to it whenever it suits him. However the policy itself will not be worth the time wasted on its formulation, as there is no intention, other than political expediency of implementing any of the proposals of the policy. It just gets swept under a carpet, but is referred to always as the direction that is adopted.

This active decision NOT to implement a policy once it is formulated is due to the lack of a commitment on anyone’s part to follow through. In other countries once policies are heavily debated, amended after discussion and adopted, they are then implemented in accordance to the policy framework.

In Sri Lanka that does not happen. I am sure when it comes to the Youth Policy that I will from time to time make suggestions to, in this blog, there will be no effort at implementation, citing a litany of reasons, none of which will hold water. The Mahinda Chinthana is a wish list of this Government, but in every sphere its implementation is hap hazard and only directed at a select few and not for the benefit of its intended recipients. In that way people are given a false impression of the promises, on which they initially give their franchise.

Let us hope that we do not make this mistake, in future. We must implement policies that are adopted. There must be sufficient discussion of stake holders before it is adopted, but an annual review of the status of implementation is sorely needed not to lose focus of its original intention.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i would say that a quarterly review would be better towards policy implementation. one year is a long time to review progress.

it is also important for an effective opposition to not only nit-pick at the policies or vision of the governing party but to offer a viable alternative based on principles of governance. an effective opposition must present voters with a viable alternative to the existing government.

Anonymous said...

Policy???

How about just basic law and order and due process???

Sri Lanka has little future potential unless RW comes to power.

Otherwise there is little hope indeed. My advice to anyone who has some money/skills....

Get yourself and your assets out of SL. You can always come back when RW comes to power.

Anonymous said...

Illegal detention and torture centers are hardly the hallmark of basic law and order and good governance.

Batalanda detention center
It was alleged by the People's Alliance government that Wickremesinghe, then a Minister, was the political authority behind an illegal detention centre in the Batalanda housing and industrial complex outside Colombo between 1988 and 1990 which was allegedly run by a government-backed counter-subversive unit as part of the state's operation to put down an armed insurgency by the JVP.
The People's Alliance government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, appointed a "Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act" to investigate activities of Batalanda and on 3 September 1997. One of its findings was that "Wickremesinghe and the SSP Nalin Delgoda, are indirectly responsible for the maintenance of places of unlawful detention and torture chambers in houses at the Batalanda Housing Scheme"ref>http://sundaytimes.lk/980412/mudli.html. It further stated that Wickremesinghe held "unauthorised meetings of police officers involved in counter-insurgency operations in the housing complex, and that as such, he had abused his authority". No criminal proceedings took pace thereafter.