Perks before portfolios?
by Uditha Kumarasinghe
The culture of portfolios and perks continue even after the election
of a new government, at the August 17 general elections, with its
estimated running costs amounting to megabucks.
The
Mahinda Rajapaksa government had 52 Cabinet Ministers and a large number
of deputies and state ministers and the ‘tradition’ continues with the
United National Front government with a 46-member Cabinet.
Most of the politicians of bad repute of the previous regimes,
whether the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) or the United
National Party (UNP) have been returned to Parliament and many of them
given prominent ministerial positions.
This is not ‘the new political culture’ as desired by the people at
large, but this old political culture has been entrenched by offering
portfolios to politicians to garner support to safeguard political
interests.
Though the formation of the Cabinet of the National Unity Government
falls short of the Rajapaksa benchmark, the size and the composition of
its ministerial-collection has caused a massive burden on public coffers
as the Government has to provide all perks and building facilities to
approximately 89 Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers.
The public have raised concern if a jumbo cabinet of this size could
be permitted, it would seriously contravene the January 8 and August 17
mandates of easing the public burden and bringing tangible benefits to
the people.
Speculation
There was speculation that some Ministers have encountered problems
of finding new buildings to house their ministries. However, many
Ministers and Deputies contacted by the Sunday Observer denounced the
need for additional buildings. A senior Public Administration Ministry
official told the Sunday Observer that it is not a function of the
Ministry to allocate buildings to Ministers and their Deputies and added
that it is the duty of the Public Administration Ministry to provide
official residences to the Ministers and Deputy Ministers following
their requests.
According to the accepted procedure, if any state-owned buildings are
not available to accommodate the newly elected ministers and deputy
ministers, they will have to find suitable privately owned buildings on
their own. It is up to the Ministry Secretary to submit a memorandum to
the Cabinet and get its approval for the desired building. The amount of
money approved for the building will be decided based on the square
feet.
Highly
informed sources said that the names and functions of the ministries
have been gazetted. They said only three newly created ministries,
Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Ministry of
Public Enterprises Development and Ministry of Primary Industries had
encountered problems to find buildings to continue their office.
A spokesman for the Office of the Cabinet Ministers told the Sunday
Observer that normally buildings to accommodate Ministers and their
Deputies are handled by the Presidential Secretariat, but Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe has intervened to resolve the issue. Therefore,
suitable buildings have already been provided to all Ministers and their
Deputies to continue their office without any hindrance.
Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage told the Sunday Observer that
at present his Ministry has also been given space in the Govijana
Mandiraya Building, Battaramulla. To facilitate the functions of the
Ministry, we hope to set up our marketing promotion division at the
World Trade Centre.
Private buildings
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Mahinda
Amaraweera said buildings to accommodate new ministries have not become
a big issue as the number of ministerial and deputy ministerial
portfolios have been reduced from what it was under the former UPFA
government. In addition, the new ‘Sethsiripaya’ building complex at
Battaramulla has also provided space for a number of ministries.
Even some private buildings
such as the one used by former Economic Development Minister, Basil
Rajapaksa remains vacant at present but the rent has been paid for the
whole year.
Forty-six Cabinet Ministers are included in the National Unity
Government now. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution has restricted
the number of Cabinet Ministers to 30, but cynically permitted
Parliament for a bigger number if a ‘national government’ is formed.
Amidst the agitation by the people and civil society groups to reduce
the number of the jumbo Cabinet and resort to a more tolerant and
inclusive political culture, Parliament on September 3 approved the
resolution to increase the Cabinet of Ministers from the
constitutionally provisioned 30 members to 48.
In an indication of the Government’s fragility, 63 MPs abstained from
voting for the Cabinet expansion while 16 MPs opposed it. A couple of
days later, the National Unity Government also appointed 19 State
Ministers and 24 Deputy Ministers which brought the total number of
Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers to 89.
The public perception is that if a Government could be run with 30
ministries as per the constitutional provision, the increase in the
number is not for the purpose of running the country but to pacify the
crossovers. It is to divide the resources among themselves and not to
work for the country and burden the public with the increase in the
number of ministerial and deputy ministerial portfolios.
A senior political analyst told the Sunday Observer that both the UNP
and the SLFP is trotting out excuses by saying that they have formed a
coalition government, but the public is at a loss to understand as to
why the number of ministers had increased merely because of a coalition
being formed. The Government should overcome the additional burden faced
by the nation by not increasing the number of ministers.
Baseless argument
The SLFP’s justification is that the people have not given a simple
majority to any party to form a Government and that is why they decided
to form a coalition with the UNP, which is a baseless argument.
Under the proportional representation scheme, except on two
occasions, all Governments formed after 1977 didn’t have simple
majorities in parliament. However, they were able to set up Governments
without forming a coalition with the main opposition party. The UNP’s
justification is that they formed a coalition Government to secure the
two-thirds majority to amend the Constitution.
In the past, we have seen Parliament supporting progressive
legislation and there was no need for the Government to offer
ministerial portfolios to the Opposition to gain support to pass
progressive legislation.
In this backdrop, the UNP’s argument is baseless. The SLFP and the
UNP are duty bound to tell the nation the reason to form a coalition
government, consisting of a large number of ministerial portfolios,
adding yet another burden on public coffers.
* According to well- informed sources, a Minister and a Deputy
Minister would cost the state coffers around Rs.30 million and Rs.20
million respectively annually. This include salaries and transport
allowances of personal staff as well.
* Every Minister is entitled to a 15-member personal staff, six
Police officers for security and three vehicles for the Minister’s use.
* In addition, there is a private secretary, two coordinating
secretaries and a media secretary and each of them get a vehicle.
A Deputy Minister gets a 10- member personal staff, six security
personnel, three vehicles for personal use and another three vehicles
for his private staff., well informed sources said |