Friday, May 25, 2018

It is time Government Servants learn to take a Minister to task to save them from doing wrong!



The culture in Sri Lanka is such that Government Servants do not wish to be punished for doing their job, so they stay silent, even if the Minister is WRONG.

An incident comes to mind, when a recently appointed Deputy Minister of Wildlife, went to the Giritale Animal Rescue Center, where animals are brought and cared for until they are able to be released into the wild.

They have a small leopard cub that has to be very carefully taken care of, in case that animal catches a disease in captivity and is surely likely to die. So as a rule there are ONLY 4 designated people permitted to care for that animal and have to take precautions like wearing gloves and sanitizing themselves, prior to any contact with that animal, lest the animal catches a disease that could kill it.

NO ONE but no one is allowed to override this rule.

In comes a newly appointed Deputy Minister who has NO clue about the protocol in this establishment, and is shown a cute leopard cub. Macho man that he is, likes to take the animal and cuddle it like we would all like to do. If I attempted it, the VET or any of the officials there would refuse to allow me, and would explain the rationale as to why I am not allowed.

So why don’t they have the straights to say that to the Minister, Sir, please don’t take that animal into your hands as it could catch a disease and could DIE. They don’t because they are frightened of the power of Ministers, who can be brutal as shown before, having people transferred and removed if they do something the Minister does not like! We know the MEGA culprit here don’t we?

So he or she is caught between a rock and a hard place in trying to placate a minister and not lose their source of income, (their job)

When you live in a society where Donkeys have power but no brains, and don’t have the breeding to take it like a man, when he is reprimanded for doing the wrong thing, you have a situation where an innocent can die(baby leopard), and another innocent can lose their job(veterinary surgeon).

This is why it’s time we have educated people in power, who can take criticism from professionals, when they are ignorant. We have to change the political culture, so we can criticize to the face, and this is where the Field Marshal must stamp his authority and tell the workers to be straight talkers and tell the truth, as they will be protected for it and not demoted or sacked as done now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

No wonder both Fonseka and Thewarapperuma are the wrong people in this job. Neither can take criticism, as they both think they are beyond reproach. Why? a fawning public cannot see through their mask of deception that's why.

A populist is just that. He may not be a good person, or know his job, he is just popular among fools, and fools form most of the electorate.

Anonymous said...

This happens in every department. So due to this inability of our senior civil servants and civil servants in general to point out wrong doing, many wrong decisions are knowingly taken and the Minister is none the wiser, because the Government Servant does not wish to correct. In the end the Minister is blamed for the error, which he does not want to be told of. It is better to be told off by a junior, than be told off by the Country later on for their incompetence.

A politician by definition must defer to the professionals, but they don't and politicians over ride too many decisions, which end up haunting them later as shown by the bond scandal and a colossal waste in building the tri forces HQ by Gota, which was plain wrong and expensive, and not value for money.

Politicians indulge in grandiose grandstanding for their survival and not for the best interests of the Country. Its all their PR and their Brand amongst the Gallery they care about, not what is in the best interests of this Country.

Will that or Could that ever Change?

Anonymous said...

Yes you must read the link - its so funny. Thewarapperuma was upset only because he was made a fool of. Instead of humbly accepting his mistake and going on his way. He turns it round to blame the Govt Servants for doing their bit to save lives of people by having accident rehearsals so people know what to do. Its these kind of brain dead politicians that our foolish people want to emulate and say are really good leaders

May God help Sri Lanka if we have come to that stage

Anonymous said...

On the subject of the politicians giving things to the non deserving, where as Govt. Servants have a formula to follow, as otherwise they can be questioned as how they arrived at their decisions.

Politicians over ride the rules to help their sycophants. Sajith Premadasa gave a house to safari jeep owner in Wilpattu yesterday, even though he is well off and earns over Rs100K a month, because he loiters inside Wilpattu at hours others are not allowed to enter, and knows this jeep driver well who gives him tips of where the animals are.

So the Park Warden if he wants to keep his job is helpless, when he comes in at 5.30am when others are only allowed to come in at 6.15am. It is time we did away with this type of politician with power to over ride Govt. servants, otherwise they will not do their job, and the people of the Country suffer. Doesn't this minister understand that?

Some fools think he is leadership material. How can that be when he is flouting every rule in broad daylight?