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| Sunday, 2 May 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Getting the winners to work Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake "How long does it take for a new government to start functioning properly," asked young Janagunda, from his father Janawardhana who had campaigned hard for the success of the UPFA in the April polls? "What is the hurry? The new government was elected hardly a month ago, the father replied." "I'm not in any hurry, I am only curious. I thought the way the campaign was being done, they were all ready to sit down and start work no sooner the results were announced," said Janagunda. "It's not as easy as you think, putha. Starting work in a new government involves so many things. First there is the swearing in of new Cabinet Ministers. This cannot be done like buying a cabinet from a furniture dealer. The Cabinet must be of a special design, to withstand various pressures in the future. It must have good balance, and those who will be part of it must be handpicked." "Are they handpicked for capability and good work?" "Well the general expectation is that. Not only capability and good work, but honesty too. Yet there are so many situations where all these expectations cannot be fully met. There are several other factors too that come into play, such as loyalty, ensuring the proper political balance and similar things too that go into the making of a Cabinet. Sometimes it becomes necessary to overlook qualities such as capability, good work and even honesty to some extent, in putting the cabinet together. It is certainly no easy task. After all, its parts must bind together very strongly, or else it can collapse. You can see the difficulty of this task when you realize that the new cabinet was finally completed nearly one month after the election." "What happens after the Cabinet is made?" young Janagunda was full of questions. "That is another long process. The new Cabinet Ministers, who are chosen for whatever good reason, must first complete the process of assuming duties. This cannot be done in a day or two. It depends on the horoscopes of the ministers, to fix a suitable date and time to assume duties. The Ministry Secretary must have some document that is non-controversial and does cause any later ill-effects on the new minister for him or her to place the first signature. Then there are religious rituals to be observed; blessings from monks and priests, the tying of "pirith nool" and such things. "The new minister has to be garlanded by trade unionists that have just crossed over to the trade union of the minister's party having been very active in the rival party till then. They will be expecting to get good jobs in their departments. Then the new minister must accept sheaves of betel leaves from senior officials who have just changed the colour of their ties they wear to suit the political party of the new minister. All this is tedious business, putha, and I honestly feel sorry that they have to go through all this" said Janawardhana, hoping his son had finished his questions. "But if assuming duties is such hard and tedious work, how is it that all of them are shown smiling as they carry out all these things?" asked Janagunda, looking somewhat puzzled. "That is because as politicians, ministers have acquired the skill of always being with a smile on one's face when there is a camera nearby. That is a special quality of a seasoned politician." "Do these photographers and reporters from the media think that a minister assuming duties is a big news event, to be covered in the public interest?" Janawardhana had to scratch his head a little before answering that. "Well most of it is all pre-arranged very carefully. The media is kept informed well ahead of the event, and ... Before he could finish what he was saying, his son asked whether the news value of ministers assuming duties did not end after reporting of the first two or three ministers carrying out what his father said was such a tedious task. "That is what I was trying to explain. There may be no news value after the first two or three, as you say. But don't forget that photographers and reporters are also Sri Lankan humans. They too like to get to know the new ministers. Some of them bring them gift the ministers with special photographs of the event. It is always useful for these photographers and reporters to know the new ministers. They can come very useful to them in their work in the media or even in many matters outside their media work. Some of them have even greater expectations than those trade unionists that changed sides or those officers who changed the colour of their ties." "Do they begin working soon after all this?" popped the question. "You must be patient about these things. Never rush into work. That is has so far been the general work motto of our politicians. I don't know whether things will change now, with some leading members of a political party not coming into the Cabinet. But, there are also other things that a new minister has to do. Most of them have to make special visits to the Dalada Maligawa, Kataragama and Kiri Vehera, Munneswaram, St. Anne's Church at Talawila, to temples and devales at Bellanwila and so many other shrines to thank the deities for their being included in the Cabinet, and also to seek blessings for their success in the future. "Are all our politicians so religious as to be so concerned about visiting all these temples and other shrines for thanksgiving and future blessings?" "This has very little to do with religion. In large part it is superstition. One can't seriously think that al, these deities, saints and avatars or what have you can be bothered very much with what happens to politicians over here. But this is part of tradition and unquestioned belief. So they follow it blindly. Carrying out their functions of governance can come only after that." "Are there many things more they have to do before they start functioning in government?" This was driving Janawardhana to impatience, but he could not show it to his son. The boy was only curious, and he liked him having an interest in politics. "Of course there are many more things to be done. The new minister has to visit his district, particularly his electorate. He must participate in the numerous receptions organized by the people. He must make appropriate speeches about not treating one's political rivals as enemies, but to treat them as friends." "Goodness me, that is quite a lot of work before the work of government" said Janagunda. "That's not all my son, those who have entered the Cabinet for the first time have to attend special felicitation events for them in the schools they attended, whether they really benefited from any education there or not. They must also attend receptions organize by the various sports clubs in the district, and promise to encourage every sport in the country." "And what happens when they finally come to their offices to begin work?" "Well they have to put up with endless visits by the diplomats from various foreign countries who come to pay them courtesy calls, and tell them how friendly they are towards Sri Lanka, and sip some tea with them. Several days can be spent in hosting diplomats. "Well, what happens after that?" "Then they must have the time to meet the media and tell them all about the plans they have for the future, what they will do, how the people will benefit from their work, how corruption will be tackled, how employment will be found for thousands and so on." "Can they begin actual work at least then?" "Yes they can, except they have to set apart a day known as the OPD to meet with voters from their electorates or districts to solve their personal problems, and on weekends they must attend various functions in their districts, from teaching the first words to little children, despite the minister not being known for excellence in education; they must attend weddings and funerals, and also attend functions to mark young girls coming to puberty." "Goodness me, can they manage to do any serious government work with all these other functions expected of them?" Janagunda asked somewhat shocked. "Remember son, to be able to do so is the mark of a good politician in our country. They must do it, otherwise when the time for the next count comes along the people may show them the way out of politics itself" said Janawardhana, feeling satisfied at his explanation. But Janagunda was not finished. "But will the people wait so long, till all these traditions are observed?" "Don't forget the last government took a hundred days for all these things. They called it the First 100 Days development programme. The people were not fooled. It is up to the politicians and ministers in particular to learn their lessons." "What do those in the Opposition do all this time?" asked Janagunda in a surprise query. "Well, for all I know they spend most of their time in planning how to overthrow the government in power. Of course they also visit various shrines to thank the deities for them being spared the rout suffered by so many of their colleagues. But they also ask for divine and even demonic assistance to help them come back to the seats of power as soon as possible," Janawardhana said. He was glad his son had no more questions. |
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